Minor footballers fancied against Sligo

Date Published: 23-Jun-2010

Cian Nihill

THE Galway minor footballers will attempt to shake off the cobwebs on Sunday as a number of their players emerge from leaving certificate study to do battle with Sligo in the Connacht semi final scheduled for Pearse Stadium at 12.00pm, directly before the seniors.

As a result of having so many players sitting exams, Galway have only played two challenge games (against St. James’ and Micheal Breathnach) since easily overcoming New York in the first round on May 9th.That Connacht championship match didn’t prove much of a challenge, with the Tribesmen running out easy winners 5-18 to 1-3 against the Exiles.

Of course, Sligo have also had a number of players sitting exams and will have to overcome similar problems, this being their first outing of the 2010 championship. Galway manager Gerry Fahy is well aware of the uncertainty that this lack of practice might bring to the clash. “We have been really restricted with what we have been able to do over the last month with the leaving cert affecting a lot of our players” said Fahy. “The difference in the game could come down to whichever side has had the least number of players doing exams”.

There is plenty on the line in Sunday’s encounter with the winners earning a shot at the Connacht title and at the very least, a quarter final berth, the losers, a hasty exit from the 2010 minor championship.With no safety net for the losing team and the unpredictable nature of minor matches, the management team were happy to reveal only one injury from the starting 15 that played New York.

Unfortunately, the one injury is Peadar Ó Gríofa from Micheal Breathnachs who was the side’s top scorer in the first round, registering an impressive 1-4 from play and 1-6 in total.Ó Gríofa played full forward against New York and the most likely replacement is Shane Maughan from St. Michael’s who has been in impressive form for his club at senior level this year.

The management team will have a number of other tough calls to make and selecting the 24 man match day panel will be no easy task, with so many young players hopeful of starring on a big day out in Pearse Stadium.

Although originally scheduled to make the call on Tuesday night, the final verdict on the squad has been pushed back to after the team’s training session tonight (Thursday) due to the tight decisions still left to be made.

It is the second time in two years that the management teams of Gerry Fahy and Bernie Mulhern will face one another, with both managers returning to the helm after disappointing campaigns in 2009. Galway narrowly defeated Sligo at the quarter final stage last year before being dumped out of the championship by eventual All-Ireland finalists Mayo in the semi final.

Sligo and Galway met again in the league earlier in the year with Galway emerging easy victors on a scoreline of 2-11 to 1-8, however, on that occasion, Sligo were missing a number of key players due to St. Attracta’s Community College’s involvement in the semi final of the All-Ireland Colleges ‘B’ Championship.

“The players Sligo were missing that day included some very handy footballers and it will be a stronger Sligo team we face this time around” acknowledged Fahy.Sligo were forced to play large parts of the league campaign without many of their potential starting 15, as Summerhill College also enjoyed an extensive run, making it to the final of the Connacht Colleges Senior ‘A’ Championship.

As a result, Sligo slumped to a winless league campaign finishing bottom of the table. Galway on the other hand, enter Sunday as hot favourites on the back of a strong season so far, losing only once, to Mayo.The instability Sligo suffered could just as easily work in the visitors’ favour come Sunday as manager Mulhern has been forced to source reliable players outside of the Yeats county’s two most successful schools from 2010.