The gloves are off

THE January preliminaries have been well and truly dispensed with and now it’s down to brass tacks as Galway footballers face up to the challenge of Meath in the first round of the National League at Navan on Sunday (2pm) in a Division 2 clash that could well tell the tale of times to come in 2014.

Galway might have learnt a bit – but not a whole lot either – from their FBD league campaign, but supporters of the maroon will be hoping for a seam of progress from their improved form in last summer’s qualifiers when they beat Armagh and then ran Cork to a point in Croke Park.

The winter though does represent a long break for the counties who don’t make it to the quarter-finals of the championship, and manager Alan Mulholland will be trying to build on the seeds of confidence that were sown against Armagh and Cork.

He will be lining out without the services of Michael Meehan, Gary O’Donnell, Gareth Bradshaw, Conor Doherty and Keith Kelly due to injury problems, but they will have their third level Colleges brigade available again after the FBD campaign.

Meath, under Mick O’Dowd, have just come through an impressive O’Byrne Cup campaign, reaching the final on Sunday last where they lost out to Kildare by a four point margin, but they do see themselves as a side ready to challenge Dublin’s supremacy in Leinster.

A long standing ankle injury rules out Michael Meehan for the first two matches of the league (the second game is a February 9 clash against Donegal in Pearse Stadium) but management are hopeful that the Caltra man will be fit for the third round match against Laois on March 1.

An ankle injury also keeps Moycullen’s Gareth Bradshaw on the sideline for the first two games while Conor Doherty has knee trouble and Keith Kelly is recovering from a hip operation.

Fiontán Ó Curraoin, however, has fully recovered from his hip operation and will give Mulholland more midfield options against a Meath side, not short of aerial and physical power, in the long-standing tradition of that county.

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