Galway must start campaign without Mannion
With less than four weeks to go before the All-Ireland champions of 1998 and 2001 begin the defence of their Connacht title against Roscommon, the Monivea-Abbeyknockmoy clubman has not returned to training although he is still playing in the County League and showing encouraging levels of fitness.
Galway's defensive options have been further reduced by a hamstring injury to Milltown's Diarmaid Blake which will keep him out of action for five weeks. It now looks as if the number 6 jersey for the May 18 Connacht Championship clash at Pearse Stadium, Salthill is up for grabs.
One definite bonus for the county is the return to training, perhaps sooner than expected, of Michael Donnellan. The Dunmore McHale’s star appears to be recovering successfully from an operation in London to cure his long-standing groin injury which hampered him so much last year and he is now fully intent on being ready for the championship.
Meanwhile, Tyrone believe the Fermanagh goal which ruined their record of not conceding a League goal this season will prove a blessing in disguise. “It was a nice record to have, but it had to go some time, and in a way we were kind of glad to get it off our back at this stage,” defender Ryan McMenamin said.
More importantly to the Dromore man, the psychological challenge of laying down a Croke Park marker in response to last year’s qualifier horror show against Sligo was met. “It started off the same way, we raced into a 3-0 lead, then we let Fermanagh come back. But we had something to prove, and we’re happy to get that monkey off our back. We had a talk about it at half-time, what we did wrong and what we did right, and we found that there wasn’t a lot done right.”
Kerry goalkeeper Declan O’Keeffe is facing a one-month ban after receiving a straight red card playing for his club Rathmore against Dr Crokes at the weekend.
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