Kevin Walsh insists Fiontan Ó Curraoin will return to Galway fold

Galway football manager Kevin Walsh has quashed rumours that midfielder Fiontan Ó Curraoin has left the Galway panel, insisting the Mícheál Breathnach clubman has only taken a month’s break to recover from a groin injury.

The 23-year-old, who won an U21 All-Ireland in 2011 and then captained Galway to victory over Cork in the 2013 U21 decider, has been a stalwart for the seniors in recent years.

His partnership with the likes of Paul Conroy or Tom Flynn have been a highlight as Galway look to return to prominence in Connacht – they haven’t won a Connacht title since 2008.

But Ó Curraoin is in a race against time to be fit for his side’s Connacht semi-final where they are scheduled to play the winners of Mayo or London on Saturday, June 18.

“Injury-wise, Cathal Sweeney is definitely under pressure. He hurt his shoulder a couple of weeks ago in a club game. Fiontan Ó Curraoin is finding it hard to shrug off a groin strain that bothered him right through the league so he is taking a few weeks out now to see how it goes. ” said Walsh.

Meanwhile, Connacht Council secretary John Prenty insisted the plans were in place to facilitate New York’s potential victory over Roscommon in the Connacht Championship preliminary round, but that it would have been a headache.

Roscommon edged the Gaelic Park clash 1-15 to 0-17 on May 1 and had they lost it would have been one of the biggest shocks in the championship history.

Many suggested the Connacht Council would not have been able to fund New York’s trip to Carrick-on-Shannon for their Connacht quarter-final tie against Leitrim if they had got the victory. However, the situation never materialised, and Prenty brushed off suggestions it could have been a disaster for the Connacht Council.

“It could have (been a headache). You’d have to take it at face value that if New York won they’d be playing Leitrim in Carrick on Sunday week, that’s what we’d be hoping.

“I assume we’d have some kind of row going on at the minute if it did happen. But we’ll have to wait until some day it does happen and it will probably cause a problem.

“The game would be in Carrick. They get one game in New York in the first round based on the fact that we are twinned with New York. We go to London in the first round based on the same fact and as part of the twinning we let them keep the gate. They are big days in New York and in London, next week in particular they are absolutely wedged with Mayo.

“I wouldn’t like to say you’d hope New York wouldn’t win, but it would be a major financial burden on Connacht if they did win. Someday they will win and we have got to put up with that.”