Make or break time

WE might only be just into the first light of Spring but already it’s shaping up to be ‘save the house’ time for Galway footballers when they travel to Portlaoise on Saturday evening (7pm) for the Division 2 league clash with Laois.

In a highly competitive division, a third league defeat on the trot would firmly put Galway in the relegation hot-seat, but conversely a win this weekend would set them up nicely for a home clash with Down and an away trip to Louth.

It’s a results driven business though and Galway need to put points on the board but Laois – after a ‘bounce back’ 2-8 to 0-11 win over Louth last time out – will also be targeting this game for two points that would put them into a mid-table position.

Both sides bled heavily on the Donegal sword – maybe not too surprising given that Jim McGuinness’s side swept the boards in the All-Ireland series just over 18 months ago and have gone into re-focus mode for 2014.

Donegal pretty much destroyed Laois on a 2-19 to 1-9 scoreline in the first round of the league while they had seven to spare over Galway in their 1-16 to 0-12 success in Pearse Stadium earlier in the month.

The strong likelihood is that the relegation battle will pan out between the quartet of Galway, Louth, Armagh and Laois – the importance of those ‘head to heads’ cannot be underestimated in the survival contest.

Galway will have to plan without the services of full back Finian Hanley, who is ruled out with a nasty calf injury that he suffered against Donegal while Michael Meehan is still out with a long standing ankle problem.

Connacht’s emphatic inter-provincial final against Ulster last Sunday in Tuam Stadium should be a morale boost of sorts in the build-up to the Laois match with seven Galway players involved in the success.

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