Noel Lane wants positional clarity from Anthony Cunningham

Former Galway manager Noel Lane has called on current incumbent and former team-mate Anthony Cunningham to settle on positions for his players.

And Lane wants Joe Canning permanently assigned the full-forward role.

Lane fully expects the county to put on a show against Dublin in Parnell Park on Sunday even though they have already qualified for the quarter-finals whereas Ger Cunningham’s side need at least a point to be guaranteed of joining them and avoid a relegation play-off against Kilkenny.

“The motivation this weekend will be to nail down places for the championship team and what more motivation do you need than that?” said Lane, a three-time All-Ireland winner. “They’ve a bit to work on up front. They’ve been relying too much on Johnny Glynn to get possession and need to look at other options.

“I know Joe Canning is only back from (hand) injury but they should look to get him more involved and that means a more central role. If you look at Tipp and Seamie Callanan, they’ve persevered with him at full-forward and he’s the target man now and is a serious threat to any opposition.

“I would be looking at that model and we’ve a man well capable of being as good, if not better, than Seamie Callanan at full-forward. Joe is a serious player and I would prefer to see him there but that’s not the case at the moment.”

More generally, Lane added: “There’s a lot of uncertainty regarding the spine. We’re coming into the championship and we should really see the establishment of that structure in the remainder of the league and the key positions filled.

“Daithí Burke has been playing football (with Corofin), but if he is to be seriously considered at centre-back for the championship he should be back for these games.”

Galway have failed to find the net in their last three games but Lane feels Canning could rectify that issue, were he positioned around the square.

“If Joe Canning was playing at full-forward you could be saying you’re guaranteed a few goals. We have the players to get goals but that will happen when the structure is nailed down. There’s a lot of movement at the moment and players lining out in different positions, which is fine for the league but the time for that is coming to an end now.”