James Skehill: Galway hurlers determined to build on ‘great start’

Galway keeper James Skehill described the Tribesmen’s win over Cork in the NHL Division 1A opener as a “great start” but rejected the view he and his teammates were making up ground on other teams in terms of fitness.

“I suppose the perception is we are three or four weeks behind, but I think we have an excellent skill set and we have a lot of fitness carried over from the previous year.

“Guys are very active, whether it would be with colleges or with late club campaigns.

“We are all training very hard, it isn’t as if we let ourselves go to a certain extent.

“It is just a case of regrouping, getting together, and getting a game plan sorted.

“This was a great start.”

Skehill was loud in his support of the league and the Walsh Cup: “You need the competitions, that is where you blood your new players too.

“Without these so-called not important games, you’d be in trouble.

“I hate to hear people say we should abolish the league or the Walsh Cup. I think that is ludicrous, to be honest.

“Every game you get in a county jersey is a good game to get, whether it be in January or September, they are all needed.

“It gives guys a chance to experience senior hurling without having too much pressure on them, so it is good.”

The big goalkeeper was keen to move on from the close-season heave against Anthony Cunningham, the manager replaced by Micheal Donoghue.

“I’m not going to speak for anyone else, but for me on the inside looking out, it was important for us to get back into our group setting.

“We wanted to get the ball rolling again.

“As far as we are concerned the past is the past, what is done is done. There is no point looking back, because you’ll never start moving forward.

“We know there is genuine hurling people in Galway and as long as they keep coming to our games, people will resurface once more.

“I can only speak for 2013 as that was the only time I was involved.

“It is very hard to hit the nail on the head.

“You could analyse it in 10 different ways and come up with 10 different reasons why it happened. It is our job to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Meanwhile, Damien Cahalane says Cork won’t press the panic button despite their defeat by Galway Cork face a strong Waterford side next weekend at home but St Finbarr’s clubman Cahalane says the Leesiders “wouldn’t be too worried” this early in the year.

“Obviously we are going to go out next week (hoping to win). Once you lose your first game in the league you’ll want to win the next one and the next one after that.

“We are looking forward to next week and hopefully we can put on a good performance for the Cork supporters at home.

“They (Waterford) are a good team, they are full of confidence.

“Next week they will be no different and full of confidence coming to Cork.”

Cork are all but certain to be without Seamus Harnedy for Saturday’s league tie .

The Cork forward was forced off with a hamstring injury 11 minutes into Sunday’s defeat to Galway, bad news for management given Harnedy missed almost two months of last year’s campaign with a similar problem.

Pa Cronin, however, will feature. The half-forward also forced removed from the action in Pearse Stadium after receiving a blow to the head.

For Clare, Darach Honan and John Conlon have not been ruled out of the trip to Wexford despite manager Davy Fitzgerald expressing concern for both players after the win over Offaly.

The groin injury incurred by Conlon will be monitored over the coming days, while Honan, who Fitzgerald said was “struggling to breathe” after a heavy challenge from an Offaly defender, has not suffered a cracked rib as was initially feared.