Ford holds fire on Salthill star

MICHAEL DONNELLAN’S return to the Galway football team may be delayed until the championship.

Manager Peter Ford has yet to consult with the All-Ireland winner after his successful campaign with Salthill-Knocknacarra, when he was the acknowledged star of their All-Ireland triumph on St Patrick's Day.

No decision has been made about bringing back hurler Alan Kerins.

Donnellan is one of three Salthill players included in the Galway squad, the others being defender Finian Hanley and forward Sean Armstrong. However, the immediate priority for the latter two is Saturday's Connacht U21 championship tie against Sligo and Ford doesn't believe they would be able to line out in the vital NFL game against Meath the following day.

"I have not spoken to any of the three of them, because I didn't want to interfere,'' he said.

"I told them in January that they could concentrate fully on the club championship for as long as Salthill were involved. I would love to have the three of them back, but we would have to be careful.

"Finian and Sean have to play in the U21 championship as well and they have had a long season. We don't want them to be burned out.''

Equally, he doesn't intend to push Donnellan back into action with the county too quickly.

"He had a bad injury last year. It seems to have eased up, but we just have to be careful with him, to make sure he is right for the summer.''

Kerins, who had to be prematurely withdrawn from the Salthill attack because of concussion, concentrated fully on hurling last year and was one of Galway's leading players in the All-Ireland final against Cork. He has yet to declare his intentions for this season, but the belief is that he will again commit himself to the hurlers.

Ford explained that the management would first have to decide "if they wanted to proceed that way or not".

"If we do, we will have a chat with him again.''

Boosted by Sunday's win over Wexford in Pearse Stadium, Ford is looking forward to further strengthening the team, saying they had up to seven players to come back into contention. They include Joe Bergin, Richie Fahey and Diarmuid Blake.

"It was difficult enough for a while, even starting out in the FBD League, because of injuries and players being unavailable. But we battled and no one dropped the head. It's good that we are coming out of it now."

Buoyed up by the win over Wexford (who had won 5-12 to 1-7 in Tuam two years ago), Ford has not ruled out the possibility of making the knock-out stages. Firstly, they have to beat Meath Sunday and without being able to put their strongest available side means that it will probably be even harder to pick up a further two points.