Hayes brought in by Tribe

All-Star forward Damien Hayes has been brought into the Galway attack for tomorrow's Allianz Hurling League semi-final against Kilkenny at Semple Stadium (throw-in 3.45pm).

Hayes comes in for the injured Niall Burke who has been ruled out with a calf injury. That is the only change manager Anthony Cunningham has made to the team that overcame Waterford last time out.

Apart from last September's All-Ireland final replay loss, Galway have enjoyed an encouraging recent run of results against the Cats - including last year's Leinster final triumph and a 3-11 to 0-17 opening round win in this season's league.

Hayes, Davy Glennon and Niall Healy notched first half goals in that game at Pearse Stadium in February, with the ever influential Joe Canning scoring 0-6 from placed balls.

Galway last reached the league decider in 2010 when they beat Cork, and Cunningham's current crop have added motivation in terms of using the league's knockout stages to prime themselves for the Championship.

"If you look at it, our last match (against Waterford) was three weeks ago, so that has been an extra three weeks of work we have got with the players and if we reach the league final, that will be another two weeks," Cunningham told the Connacht Tribune.

"So that is excellent preparation for the Championship which is only around the corner.

"If we win on Sunday, we will be playing up to May 5 and that is now a big, big target for us. There is a big difference between a six-week build-up to the Championship and two months."

Galway (v Kilkenny): Colm Callanan; Feargal Moore, Kevin Hynes, Niall Donoghue; Johnny Coen, David Collins, Aidan Harte; Iarla Tannian, Joseph Cooney; Cyril Donnelan, Conor Cooney, David Burke; Davy Glennon, Joe Canning, Damien Hayes.