Tribe believe Skehill can defy injury

Galway was rocked by rumours last night that goalkeeper James Skehill had seriously injured his shoulder in training yesterday evening and could miss tomorrow’s All-Ireland senior hurling final replay against Kilkenny.

Not true, says Hurling Board PRO, Jarlath Cloonan.

While admitting Skehill had indeed injured his shoulder, Jarlath last night stated “the management team fully expect James to play on Sunday”.

With that in mind, Galway have named an unchanged starting 15 from that which drew the first game, though the usual changes will probably take place before throw-in, with Johnny Coen and Fergal Moore switching corners and David Collins and Niall Donoghue switching wings.

Should it prove that Skehill isn’t in fact able to start, or needs early replacing, U21 keeper Fergal Flannery will probably get the nod.

Kilkenny have made two changes to their starting line-up, U21 stars Cillian Buckley and Walter Walsh replacing Aidan Fogarty and Colin Fennelly. Both Fogarty and Fennelly had starred in Kilkenny’s semi-final win over Tipperary but neither was able to repeat that level of performance against Galway, Fennelly replaced by Matthew Ruth before the end.

Buckley, in fact, had been expected by many to start the drawn game as a direct midfield replacement for the injured Michael Rice, but the returning Richie Hogan was named to start there, as he is again this Sunday.

Even more surprisingly, Hogan — normally a deadly inside-forward — then went on to start and play almost the entire match in that unfamiliar midfield position.

Richie’s older brother Paddy actually started there in the Leinster final loss to Galway, partnered on that occasion by Cillian Buckley. The probability is that Buckley will start in midfield tomorrow, with Richie moving to attack, possibly to corner-forward, TJ Reid going to the wing.

On the basis of his displays for the U21s this year, Walsh has been touted as a likely Kilkenny senior star of the future but the towering Tullogher-Rosbercon full-forward now gets to make his championship debut in the biggest game of all.