Hardcore of experienced players released from the Galway hurling panel
GALWAY team manager Micheál Donoghue has bitten the bullet in conducting a radical overhaul of the senior hurling panel for the 2017 season.
It’s out with the old and in with the new as a host of long serving players, including former captains Fergal Moore, David Collins and Andy Smith, who was contemplating retirement anyway, have been culled from the squad.
Donoghue, along with his selectors Francis Forde, who recently guided St Rynagh’s to their first Offaly title since 1993, and Noel Larkin, have also dispensed with two other vastly experienced performers in the injury-prone Cyril Donnellan and Iarla Tannian.
Though players have been informed that it’s an open-ended squad, it’s unlikely that any of the quintet will wear the maroon jersey again as the Galway management invests heavily in a youth policy.
Among the newcomers called up are Sean Loftus (Turloughmore), Sean McInerney (Oranmore-Maree), Thomas Monaghan (Craughwell), Martin Dolphin (Portumna), Dan Nevin (Cappataggle), Kevin McHugo (Tommy Larkins) and Michael Conneely (Liam Mellows).
Also promoted are the O’Flaherty brothers, Brian and Paul from Abbeyknockmoy, Matt Donoghue of Moycullen, and Gort trio Aidan Helebert, Jason Grealish and goalkeeper Gavin Lally. It’s a big shake-up of the squad by any standards by Donoghue, who was only appointed manager in December of last year in the wake of the players’ revolt against Anthony Cunningham.
In the circumstances, the new Galway management understandably stayed basically loyal to the 2015 panel, but have now firmly put their own stamp on the personnel to drive the Tribesmen forward.
Donoghue’s first year in charge was something of a mixed bag. Galway were relegated to Division 1B after disappointingly losing a National League play-off to Cork at Pearse Stadium in late March.
Their championship fortunes saw another Leinster Final defeat to Kilkenny when the team fell away in the closing quarter – a scenario which led to an unwarranted scathing attack on the players and Donoghue by former boss Ger Loughnane.
But Galway regrouped and subsequently recorded a notable quarter-final success over Clare before suffering a somewhat unlucky defeat to Tipperary at Croke Park in the All-Ireland semi-final when injuries to Joe Canning (hamstring) and Adrian Tuohy (shoulder) had a significant bearing on the outcome.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.