Injuries force Galway ladies to delay team selection for final

GALWAY ladies football manager Barry Downey has delayed naming his team for the Tribeswomen’s Connacht senior final clash against arch rivals Mayo at Tuam Stadium on Sunday (4pm) after a number of players picked up injuries.

Several players sustained knocks following a full round of club championship fixtures last weekend, although Downy says the extent of those injuries will not be known until later in the week. Consequently, Tuesday’s announcement of the starting line-up was deferred until Friday.

Already, midfielder Emma Curley looks set to miss the provincial decider after hurting an ankle in a club game two weeks ago while fellow midfielder and dual player Catriona Cormican was forced off with an Achilles injury in Galway’s win over Wexford in the All-Ireland camogie series last Saturday.

In any event, Downey and his management team are unlikely to make sweeping changes from the outfit that reached the National League (Division 2) final in early May, which they narrowly lost 1-13 to 1-10 to Kerry.

Edel Concannon kicked six points, all frees, in that game to finish the campaign as Galway’s top scorer with a substantial 3-36, just edging out Roisin Leonard who tallied an equally impressive 5-26, the majority of which was from play.

Other Galway players who contributed handsomely throughout the National League were Annette Clarke (4-5), Aoibheann Daly (1-10), Tracy Leonard (1-9), Deirdre Brennan (0-8) and Geraldine Conneally (1-3).

At the other end of the field, Johanna Connolly was first choice between the posts while Amy Rohan, Rebecca McPhilbin, Nora Ward, Emer Flaherty and captain Sinead Burke also featured prominently in a campaign in which Downey used an incredible 36 players.

For Mayo’s part, they also had a solid National League but, ultimately, lost out to kingpins Cork on a scoreline of 0-14 to 0-7 in the Division 1 final. That said, Mayo could not have envisaged being in such a situation after their first five games, having lost out to Cork (2-10 to 1-11), Monaghan (1-15 to 2-6) and Laois (4-9 to 2-10) in the group stages.

In the end, it was their opening victories over Dublin and Meath coupled with wins over Donegal and Tyrone in the final two rounds that pushed them through to the semi-finals, where they caused an upset of sorts when Cora Staunton, despite playing with a broken nose, kicked all of her side’s tally to account for Monaghan 1-10 to 0-9.

Along with Staunton, Mayo still have a string of local heroes in their ranks, such as goalkeeper Yvonne Byrne, Noelle Tierney, Martha Carter, Claire Egan and Fiona McHale, while emerging talent such as the McManamon twins, Ciara and Clodagh, and Sarah Rowe have been settling in nicely.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune