New Galway manager Joe Kernan takes charge of his first football match on Sunday when last year’s FBD winning side take on the Exiles in New York.
Kernan, along with Carraroe's Seán O'Domhnaill and Annaghdown's Tom Naughton, met last year’s panel in Loughgeorge on Tuesday night ahead of tomorrow’s departure to the US.
And while the fixture, as a winner’s reward, is of little importance, there are sufficient incentives if the players want to impress their new boss. Several of the squad members were on the fringes last year and they will be given a rare opportunity with the absence of many regulars.
Players from this year’s club finalists, who must replay their decider in a week, will not be travelling - Mountbellew’s Joe Bergin and Corofin’s Kieran Fitzgerald, Kieran Comer, and Damien Burke. Padraig Joyce is out of action, and Kernan must plan without him for the season, while the college players are also unavailable.
Despite the limitations in the squad, it will be an opportunity for both management and players to get to know each other.
