Scoring ace Robert Finnerty believes Galway are in a good place
GALWAY forward Robert Finnerty has revealed clubmate Matthew Thompson is making progress from an ankle injury which has kept him sidelined since returning to Galway after studying abroad.
Thompson picked up the injury while he was away on his Erasmus in Berkeley. “He's back in the country. He's in good spirits, he enjoyed his time in the States. He's rehabbing his injury. He's my clubmate so as long as he's back playing football in the next year, I'm happy out,” said Finnerty.
The Galway star impressed in attack, scoring 1-9 in their easy win over Kildare in round one of the All-Ireland senior football series. The Salthill Knocknacarra clubman has also kicked six two pointers in 2026 and said that the Galway players are being encouraged to go after them.
"When that rule changed, there was just a huge shift in mindset around saying, well, I'm allowed to take this shot on now and I'm encouraged to take this shot now.
"It's the same with a lot of other guys as well. Now, we're kind of being enticed to do it. And it makes it a great spectacle."
Finnerty feels the Galway squad are in a healthy position since the returns of Damien Comer and Shane Walsh to full fitness.
“Everyone is back and playing well, it is exciting. It is nice when you have 38 lads training chomping at the bit trying to push for places on the 26 and on the team.
“It’s really competitive, there are serious players on the bench. Any given day they can come on and win us the game or make a serious impact, I think we’re definitely in a good place at the minute.”
Over the last two seasons Padraic Joyce has freshened up his management bringing in David Morris and Mickey Graham last year and adding Raymond Galligan to the management team this year.
“Every coach has different styles, different things they put focus on, obviously we had Cian O’Neill for a long time beforehand. He would have done a lot of coaching himself, whereas now we have three different coaches involved who can divide it up.
“It’s great even in terms of getting feedback. It’s not just one coach you have three different coaches and you can throw PJ (Padraic Joyce), scan (John Concannon) and Micheal (O Domhnaill) in the fold as well.
“You’ve got loads of different guys involved that might see different things you can improve on. It’s really good in that way the more people that can talk to you about your game and that you can have overlooking you as a team as well and trying to help you get better is definitely a good thing,” added Finnerty.