Galway footballers will be hoping weather does not affect Saturday's round four National League fixture with Cork, having suffered an eleventh hour postponement of last weekend's fixture against Offaly in Pearse Stadium due to Storm Eunice.
Throw in for the game is at 5pm which will should entice a large Galway following to make the journey, having missed out last weekend.
Cork are without a win to date in the league, having suffered losses away at Roscommon in round one and Derry in round three, while managing to salvage a draw at home to Clare despite being behind for large periods of that game.
Keith Ricken’s side were totally outclassed last Sunday as Derry put them to the sword in Owenbeg on a scoreline of 1-13 to 0-07. And in Cork’s two away performances, they have been well beaten, also losing to Roscommon 1-13 to 0-10.
Cork will welcome a return to home turf for this Saturday’s fixture as they aim to navigate their way out of the realistic prospect of dropping back into division three for next season and the Tailteann Cup for 2022.
As a result the Tribesmen will be priming themselves for a massive Rebel backlash in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday evening.
In an interesting subplot to this fixture, Galway coach Cian O’Neill will be revisiting the team which he coached for the previous two seasons, which included masterminding that memorable win over Kerry in the Munster semi final in 2020.
However, there will be no love lost on Saturday as Galway need the two points to maintain their promotion push and stay close to Derry, who appear to be the form side of the division.
One positive to come from the postponement of the Offaly fixture for Galway is that it gave some players who have played a lot of football in the past number of weeks due to college commitments a well earned rest.
Sean Kelly, Paul Kelly, Tony Gill, Cathal Sweeney, Tomo Culhane and Matthew Tierney were crowned Sigerson champions with NUIG last Wednesday which was the culmination of their journey over the last six weeks, and their bodies will need the chance to recover as they prepare for a huge four week period in Galway’s season.
Conor Flaherty was on the losing side of that Sigerson final in goal for UL, but played a starring role in UL’s Fitzgibbon Cup winning campaign, scoring a last-gasp point in the semi-final on Thursday night before being crowned champions on Saturday afternoon.
Galway’s GMIT contingent of Johnny McGrath, Liam Costello and Conor Raftery were also winners in the Trench Cup as DKIT pulled out of the final due to player welfare concerns.
With Johnny Heaney returning to the squad from injury as well, the panel appears in good health as Galway head to Cork aiming for another two points
