Footballers to circle the wagons for visit of champions Cork

Date Published: 17-Mar-2011

FRANK FARRAGHER

It’s probably not what a team needs after four defeats in a row with relegation staring them in the face . . . the visit of the All-Ireland champions Cork to town, who are hot on the heels of a big win over Down.

Things don’t really get any easier when you’re at the bottom of the pile and Galway will just have to circle the wagons and do their best at Pearse Stadium on Sunday (2.30pm) – their task though, by any gauge, is a daunting one.

Galway did put up the brave fight against Kerry in Killarney on Sunday but Jack O’Connor’s side still won with a fair bit to spare and there was an uneasy feeling that the Kingdom were only on half steam.

The bad news continues to pile up for Galway. Top forward Michael Meehan, desperately trying to recover from the ankle injury he suffered against Sligo last Summer, has suffered another setback and will now need further medical assessment.

In the continuing absence of Padraic Joyce and Sean Armstrong, Galway are critically short of quality scoring forwards so the latest news about Michael Meehan is the last thing supporters of the game in the county needed to hear.

There were a few crumbs of comfort last Sunday. Defensively, against real quality opposition, Galway did defend with commendable grit even if at times the ‘little and large’ threat of Colm Cooper and Kieran Donaghy just proved a step too far. But that duo will cause trouble to any defence.

Galway also won a reasonable amount ball around the midfield sector while Eoin Concannon at centre forward had the gimp of a player with the confidence to ‘cut it’ at county level over the coming months. Sean Armstrong and Gareth Bradshaw are ruled out of Sunday’s match with hamstring problems while a similar affliction struck Niall Coyne in the first half of the Kerry match last Sunday.

Mountbellew-Moylough’s Cathal Kenny – ruled out of the Kerry match with an eye injury – is recovering well but remains in the 50/50 category for the joust with Cork.

The Galway footballing family will be more than a little concerned watching Cork’s late demolition of Down in the old Flower Lodge soccer pitch, Pairc Uí Rinn, on Saturday night last.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.