More matches and less focus on training is suiting Cooney

By Patrick Earley

WITH a strong league campaign behind them, the wait for the Galway hurlers to swing into championship action is a very short one and that’s no bad thing for Shane O’Neill and his squad, who will look to carry the momentum garnered from the league forward to Saturday’s Leinster semi-final with Mattie Kenny’s Dublin.

Having gone so long without GAA, again, now that it’s back, there’s a feast of it on our television screens and around our county grounds every weekend.

For inter-county outfits. It’s a hectic time. None would have had the desired pre-season with only a few weeks to prepare for a league  campaign which was full on with five games in as many weeks.

That’s what you call a manager’s nightmare and a player’s dream. It’s clear as day to everyone that the matches to training ratio is way off the mark. If there is one thing which the Covid pandemic has perhaps proved beneficial in proving it’s that.

Galway and St Thomas’ forward Conor Cooney is the same as every other player across the country. He wants to pull on that maroon shirt and get out on the field of play. With the nature of the league this year, squad rotation was always going to come into effect with Galway also looking to uncover a few hidden gems ahead of championship.

Every player got their chance and it was up to them what they did with it when the opportunity was presented. Cooney was only too happy to play his part and embrace the hectic schedule:

“Very full on,” he says of the last few weeks. “The lads (management), the way they approached it there was lots of rotation in the team which was good so we really developed a good strength-in-depth in the panel. It gave lots of lads a chance to put their hands up for championship, so they’ll have a lot of selection headaches coming up. I think we’re in a good place.”

“I prefer that 100% (lots of matches), get the training out of the way and to not have a big window between matches. If you’re just training and training it’s hard to keep the motivation up, but if you have matches coming hot and heavy you’ll have yourself physically right well in advance. I think you’d be hard pushed to find a player that says less matches and more training,” he adds.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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