Galway’s injury crisis deepens after first round of club championship ties

IF the first round of the Galway senior hurling championship was anything to go by last weekend, the 2016 battle for the Tom Callanan Cup is going to be nothing short of a war of attrition.

There were a number of major talking points around the grounds over Saturday and Sunday, with most of the chatter revolving around the number of high profile players carrying or sustaining injuries and, more alarmingly, the growing injury list to Galway’s inter-county senior hurlers.

Joe Canning (knee) did not line out for Portumna in their three-point victory over Craughwell while Galway captain David Burke (hamstring) was forced to sit out St. Thomas’ defeat to holders Sarsfields. Turloughmore’s Fergal Moore (muscle tear) was also sidelined for his side in their narrow SHC loss to Loughrea.

Added to this, Liam Mellows’ David Collins (hamstring), Pearses’ Cyril Donnellan (broken finger) and Turloughmore’s Matthew Keating (broken foot) were all forced off through injury in their respective senior fixtures. In the intermediate grade, defender Padraig Mannion (ankle ligament) sat out Ahascragh/Fohenagh’s defeat to Oranmore/Maree.

Reportedly, Cappataggle goalkeeper James Skehill (leg) and Ardrahan’s Iarla Tannian (back) are both also nursing knocks this week but should be fit to feature for their respective clubs.

With two rounds of senior and intermediate championship ties on the immediate horizon, Galway senior hurling boss Michéal Donoghue will have his fingers crossed no more of his panellists fall victim to injuries, particularly with the Tribesmen set to face Wexford in the inaugural Fr. Nicholas Murray Memorial Cup in Ballymacward this Bank Holiday Monday (4pm).

At any rate, the stakes will be raised higher for many of the clubs this weekend, particularly in the Senior ‘A’ championship where, interestingly, all of the first round winners face a losing team desperately in need of putting points on the board. Consequently, the intensity is unlikely to drop.

In Group ‘A’ of Senior ‘A’, champions Sarsfields, fresh from their victory over St. Thomas’, will face Gort, the side they ambushed in last year’s county semi-final. After Gort coughed up a seven-point lead to Castlegar last Sunday, their necessity for points in an extremely competitive group is great.

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