Lee explains delayed team announcement

Galway defender John Lee has today revealed that Ger Loughane did not tell his players the formation of his starting 15 for last Saturday's All-Ireland SHC qualifier against Clare until just minutes before the throw-in.

In an unusual move, the Galway boss held off naming his team for the Ennis encounter until the last possible moment.

Speaking today at a 'GAA Unrivalled' press conference in Dublin, centre-back Lee confirmed that this was the case but that the players were fully aware of Loughnane's reasons for the last-minute decision.

"We knew that was going to be the case and everybody was going to be focused on the game anyway and they should have been concentrating as if they were starting the game.

"That was the idea of it, that was so subs wouldn't be losing concentration and that was the main idea so everyone would be thinking as if they were playing and having 100% concentration," Lee admitted.

However, he did not believe this was a reason for the Tribesmen's 2-10 to 0-14 loss to Clare.

"I don't think it affected me and from talking to players, it didn't really affect them either," he insisted.

Antrim travel to Salthill this Saturday to take on Galway in their final Group 1A qualifier, and Lee knows that the home side will not be taking the Saffrons for granted.

"Antrim blew Laois off the pitch and we struggled to beat Laois for most of the game but pulled away at the end. Antrim are going to come up with something to fight for and they are going to fight for that.

"We know that we are no great team at this stage, that we are going to struggle to put any team over so we aren't thinking past Antrim."

The Galway players and management did not emerge from the dressing room for almost an hour after the two-point defeat to Clare but Lee admitted that there was more calm in the dressing room than anger.

"To be honest we were in the dressing room for an hour and there was very little said. It was just pure silence and David Collins, our captain, was doing most of the talking, trying to lift our spirits.

"Ger was obviously very disappointed that we didn't produce the goods that we were showing in training and all he said was that we were back training on Tuesday night and that it was up to ourselves to restore some pride in the county."

The Liam Mellows clubman, who made his championship debut in the recent qualifier win over Laois, is conscious that he is always just one game away from a place on the bench.

"I've played most of my games there (at centre-back) this year but I wouldn't be overly confident of holding onto it," Lee said.

"There are so many players there like Diarmuid Cloonan, Derek Hardiman and Damien Joyce who were all on the bench the last day. One slip up and I could lose my position very easily."

Lee believes that while the Clare defeat was disappointing, the mood in the Galway camp is upbeat this week as they go after a win which will book their place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

"Obviously we would all be very dejected over the performance last week but then again, training again last night was superb so we would have to be confident. We know that if we produce even 80-90% of what we are capable of, we will cause any team serious trouble.

"If we produce a 100% performance I can see us beating every team but that is the real mystery - can we produce what we should be able to produce?" he added.