Hanley claims rumours of Galway unrest untrue

GALWAY defender Finian Hanley is confident the future is bright for the Tribesmen despite the troubles encountered in the opening weeks of the football league.

Hanley, one of three joint captains named by manager Tomás Ó Flatharta, said that the withdrawals of experienced duo Kieran Fitzgerald and Niall Coleman were blown out of proportion. But he feels that if Galway are to succeed then they need to introduce new talent — and reckons Ó Flatharta is the man to do that.

“We are a team that is trying to build again and we must look to the future. We have not brought enough through in the past few years and Tomás isanxious to do that and build a team,” said the 26 year-old.

“We need to start bringing forward new talent, maybe the minors from 2007. We are trying to blood a few players and we’ll be using the league for that. On Sunday, guys like Colin Forde and Danny Cummins came in and they did well. They will learn from playing national league games as I and all the others did a few years ago. These games really bring players on, but it takes time,” added the Ulster Bank employee.

Hanley said that stories of unrest in the Galway camp were untrue

“I don’t know where all the stories last week came from. Training is going well, lads are happy, and of course it is a big loss to lose two experienced players such as Kieran Fitzgerald and Niall Coleman. Fitzy has given 12 years to Galway football and owes it nothing and Niall is still only 25 so hopefully he will be back but his decision isunderstandable given the work situation.

“They are massive losses. If you look at other counties, such as Kerry or Kilkenny, they lost a few players and struggled to cope, so we need to deal with that and find new talent,” said the full-back.

Hanley, speaking in Cong on the Galway-Mayo border yesterday as part of the build-up to Sunday’s clash in Tuam Stadium, said the tie will be a huge game for both counties.

“There is no doubt Sunday’s game is a relegation clash. They have a point, we have none so the outcome of this one could decide a lot. But a win on Sunday can turn it around.

“Galway-Mayo clashes are always brilliant. We enjoy playing each other and while both teams have taken a dip in the past year or two, but there is something special about these games. It’s a massive rivalry and there is a lot at stake on Sunday,” he said. Hanley said they were not getting distracted by the stories of unrest in the camp.

“The biggest issue is that we have played two matches and have no points. But we are trying to improve every day and if we can blood players along the way, then it will be a good campaign. Tomás has brought fresh ideas, he’s very much a players’ man and training is veryenjoyable. The most important thing is that we are improving with every training session, every match and we’ll build from there.”