Season opener marks Donoghue's return to the Galway dugout

Galway manager Micheál Donoghue before the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior 
Championship Round four match between Kilkenny and Galway at 
Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. 
Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Galway manager Micheál Donoghue before the Leinster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round four match between Kilkenny and Galway at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

It is perhaps fitting that Tipperary, Galway’s arch-rivals who battled most memorably with Micheál Donoghue’s teams during his first stint in charge, are the opponents again as the Allianz National Hurling League Division 1A gets underway in Pearse Stadium on Sunday afternoon (throw-in: 3.45pm ).

Both counties' 2024 seasons ended in bitter disappointment as they failed to qualify for the business stage of the championship after underwhelming provincial campaigns. A reformatted League structure which begins a week earlier and the removal of the pre-season competitions leaves new management teams like Donoghue’s with very little opportunity to road-test their panels ahead of round one.

How all seven counties don’t have the same number of home and away fixtures is a mystery, but Galway are somehow the only county who have to face into four away trips, including their last three games.

Galway’s finishing position in the league will not define progress, or lack of, this year, but the county board will surely be hoping to stay in the top tier for the higher profile games that are guaranteed.

Donoghue’s tenure is not the only new beginning for home supporters to get excited about this weekend, with the likelihood that the newly installed Pearse Stadium floodlights will be called into action on Sunday. A welcome development that has taken far too many years to come to fruition, the Salthill venue will hopefully see bumper crowds attend these two league games if for the novelty factor alone.

Donoghue and his backroom team, which now includes former player Aidan Harte alongside Franny Forde, Noel Larkin, and Eamonn O’Shea, appear to have cast a wide net in an attempt to unearth hidden gems and give underage talent a sample of life in a senior intercounty set-up. Donoghue stressed recently that the players who are cut from the playing panel this week before the league begins will continue on a nutrition and S&C programme.

Galway have had to settle for challenge games against Offaly and Clare in recent weeks after their planned first fixture at home to Laois in aid of charity fell foul of the weather. With Fitzgibbon Cup games also in full swing, Galway will be managing player workloads as they try to have the panel peaking for the Leinster championship campaign.

The task ahead of the new management team appears to be a simple one based on last year’s failings, yet it will be a credible achievement if Galway begin to be spoken about as serious challengers for national honours in year one of Donoghue’s return. The depth of talent is undoubtedly there, yet the challenge of solving the puzzle of how to form a cohesive unit incorporating impactful 'finishers' from the bench which can compete with the very best in the country is surely one Donoghue will relish.

Tipperary manager Liam Cahill has made some big calls of his own as he attempts to revive the Premier County’s fortunes, with seasoned campaigners Cathal Barrett and Barry Heffernan cut from the panel despite Barrett insisting he had not retired. Patrick 'Bonner' Maher and Dan McCormack have both retired from duty but Noel McGrath is back for an incredible 17th season at senior level.

Mark Kehoe was a key forward last year but has opted to go travelling abroad, while Seamus Kennedy makes a welcome return after a year out with a cruciate knee injury. Cahill looks likely to promote plenty of young talent in an effort to reinvigorate his team, with a humbling 18-point loss to Cork last May something Tipperary will be keen to avoid a repeat of.

Galway are favoured by the oddsmakers to win on Sunday and getting points on the board early will be key if they wish to avoid the drop. The potential return of Kevin Cooney to a forward division that lacked a spark last season could be key as they look to begin the 2025 season on a positive note.

 

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