Glynn to miss hurlers clash with Laois

STEPHEN GLENNON

GALWAY senior hurling manager Anthony Cunningham has urged his players to be wary of the pitfalls heading into Sunday’s Leinster semi-final against minnows Laois at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise (3:30pm).

In what Cunningham agreed was ‘a banana skin’ of a fixture, the Galway boss recalled the county’s qualifier clash against the same opposition in 2007 – in which Laois pushed the Westerners all the way before Galway emerged victorious on a 3-20 to 1-14 scoreline.

Four unanswered points from first half goalscorer James Young had Laois leading by 1-10 to 2-6 at the interval in that clash but Eugene Cloonan subsequently helped Ger Loughnane’s Galway go back in front in the 49th minute and they never looked back thereafter.

“I remember a couple of years ago, in Ger Loughnane’s time, Galway playing Laois down in Portlaoise and they struggled for large parts of the match to shake Laois off,” said Cunningham. “So, it is definitely not a match you want to go out in and under-perform. Indeed, it is all about performance – getting a strong championship performance – and doing our best. So, we are not looking past next Sunday, only getting that big performance from ourselves.”

Going on previous championship meetings – Galway have won seven out of the eight – and the manner and nature of those, a Galway victory should be a foregone conclusion. However, Cunningham says their preparations have been disrupted due to injuries and the club championship.

He explained that an injury crisis of sorts has put the Galway set-up on high alert, outlining that among those on the treatment table are experienced Liam Mellows defender David Collins (ligament/hand) and young Ardrahan forward Jonathan Glynn (knee) while panellists Barry Daly of Clarinbridge (knee) and Bernard Burke of St. Thomas’ (arm) will definitely to miss the tie.

In addition, a plethora of players – including Portumna sharpshooters Joe Canning and Damien Hayes – were forced to sit out training recently due to injuries sustained in the last round of club fixtures while others, such as St. Thomas’ David Burke (groin), have struggled to procure the time to adequately deal with their injuries due to club and county commitments. Read more in this week’s Connacht Tribune.