Ryan and Concannon nearing injury return for Galway senior hurlers
GALWAY senior hurling manager Micheal Donoghue revealed that Joshua Ryan and Brian Concannon are making progress from their respective injuries in the wake of Sunday’s easy win over Offaly at Pearse Stadium.
Those injuries have kept Ryan and Concannon out of action in the opening two rounds of the Leinster Hurling Championship.
“Josh just had a strange enough injury but we're just hoping this week he'll get over that. Brian is making great progress as well,” said Donoghue.
He also confirmed that Tiernan Killeen picked up a hamstring injury and he is hoping the Loughrea clubman will return to full fitness in the next two weeks.
The Galway manager appeared to be frustrated with his side’s performance in their 2-26 to 1-18 victory over Offaly in round 2 of the provincial title race.
“I still think in terms of our performance, it wasn’t to the level or standard that we expect. But in the second half, it was better.
“A few goal chances again and then when Conor (Cooney) came on, he took his one and that probably just settled the game and probably settled us a small bit more. We got some easier scores after that.”
6,557 spectators attended Galway’s 11-point over Offaly and at stages it didn’t feel like an intense championship battle. Donoghue admitted it’s up to his side to bring that intensity to the table.
“It's definitely up to us to bring that and it's something we can work on. I think it's with the group and that comes with experience and with experience comes more consistency, and that's what we're striving for with this group,” added Donoghue.
After victories over Kilkenny and Offaly, the Tribesmen now have a break this weekend before making the trip to Kildare on Saturday, May 9. Galway host Dublin on Saturday, May 16 and finish off their round-robin campaign away to Wexford on Sunday, May 24.
“We 100% welcome the break we have. Even going back to the game last week, some lads carried a good few knocks into the game .
“So it was managing them for the last couple of weeks just to make sure we get lads on the pitch. We welcome the break now and try and get the bodies ready to go again on a three-week assault.”