Hayes says squad places up for grabs

GALWAY hurling boss Conor Hayes, who has brought Eugene Cloonan back into the fold after a year in the wilderness, says the 30-man squad picked for the national league is open-ended.

Hayes, who took Galway to the All-Ireland final last year in his third year in charge, says the league campaign will be used with a view to putting together a championship side.

He said the progress made last year must be built on as Galway bid to bring the Liam McCarthy Cup west for the first time since 1988, when Hayes captained them to victory.

Cloonan, 27, is determined to reclaim his place on the Galway team. Equally, the Galway management want to use every possible avenue in a bid to go one better this season having lost the All-Ireland final to Cork last September.

Cloonan, pictured, played in the national league last year but was left off the squad when he suffered a recurrence of a back injury and with communications between the player and management breaking down, he did not feature in the championship.

Cloonan’s younger brother Diarmuid, the regular Galway full-back up to then, also dropped out of the squad before the championship, citing work commitments and Athenry’s prolonged campaign as the primary reasons.

He has not been included in a 30-man squad named by manager Conor Hayes and his selectors.