GALWAY joint vice-captain Louise Ward has made a timely return from injury in recent weeks. Ward suffered a grade-two groin tear, along with a tear in her abdomen, which ruled her out of the Connacht final and the group stages of the All-Ireland Championship.

The Galway joint captain made her return from injury off the bench during the All-Ireland quarter-final against Mayo and semi-final against Armagh off the bench.

“It’s clearing up at the right time, it was difficult being out for the last ten weeks but back in full training now. I was happy to come on against Armagh and get the minutes under the belt, I got ten minutes against Mayo and almost 20 minutes the last day. It was good to be able to come in (against Armagh) and be a little bit of an addition to it as well,” Ward told Tribune Sport.

The 29 year old feels something is different about this Galway team compared to the 2024 team who came up short against Kerry in the All-Ireland final.

“In 2024, we would have got relegated in the league and ended up in the All-Ireland final. It was the lads first year with us as a squad, now it’s year three with them, you’re building on things that you would have done from the first year to the second year. We thought we were going well last year and that’s why we were so disappointed with how the All-Ireland semi-final ended against Dublin,” explained Ward.