Walsh is braced for difficult away fixture against Down

THE Weather Gods conspired against Galway last Sunday forcing the cancellation of their Tuam league tie against Laois and now Kevin Walsh’s side will travel north this weekend, a little on the rusty side for their clash with Down.

Galway would have preferred to be heading to Newry (Sunday, 2pm) with a third game under their belts and it will now be a full four weeks since their last league tie against Westmeath in Mullingar.

A heavy snowfall on Sunday morning jettisoned the Laois match while by that stage, Down had secured their second win of the league campaign against Cavan at Breffni Park on Saturday night.

By all accounts, Down’s 1-9 to 0-8 win over Cavan under the lights, was not a thing of beauty, with the losers reduced to 14 men in the last quarter following the dismissal of Ronan Flanagan.

A counter-attacking goal from Donal O’Hare in the last seven minutes swung the match Down’s way, but the win will be a boost to their confidence as they embark on something of a revenge mission for their defeat last year in Tuam.

This time last year, Galway recorded their first win of the league campaign against Down in Tuam Stadium (1-12 to 0-8), after having endured a pretty awful start to their Division 2 campaign.

That success helped Galway to survival in Division 2, but this year, after a far healthier start to their campaign, they will be hoping to chalk up an away success against Jim McCorry’s charges.

Last year’s seven point win over Down in Tuam was slightly flattering with Danny Cummins snatching a late goal while the northern side also missed a truck load of chances.

Galway’s long term injury news continues to cause concern with Colin Forde the latest casualty. The Killererin clubman has been diagnosed with a damaged cruciate that will keep him out of the game for the rest of the year.

Tom Flynn’s knee cartilage problem has had surgery treatment, and while the overall prognosis for the Summer is quite positive, it seems certain that the Athenry midfielder will miss the rest of the league campaign.

Also out for the coming couple of months at least is Oughterard forward Martin Coady who has suffered a dislocated shoulder but on a more positive note, Paul Conroy is back in full training and pushing for a return to action as is his St. James’ clubmate, Johnny Duane.

Annaghdown’s Damien Comer has also fully recovered from the finger fracture he suffered while hurling with Annaghdown and now fills the gap left by the injury to Tom Flynn.

Galway manager Kevin Walsh said that while the recent injury news on Tom Flynn, Colin Forde and Martin Coady was a real setback, the side just had to knuckle down to the task facing them on Sunday.

“We were really looking forward to the Laois match on Sunday and it was a real disappointment to us that the game had to be called off.

“That match against Laois, would have set us up nicely for the trip to Newry, but things like that are outside our control, and we just have to focus in on the task ahead of us on Sunday,” said Walsh.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.