Joe Kernan set out on his 2010 voyage with the Galway footballers last Sunday in Tuam stadium with an easy six-points win over a disjointed Sligo outfit in the FBD league.
Kernan was pleased enough after what was a workmanlike performance.
“We asked for a huge effort of the lads and we got it. That’s enough to be getting on with for now. We missed chances in the second half, but in fairness to the players, they had no chance to work on field skills because of the awful weather and the closed season.
“We will be looking at players over the next few weeks and seeing how they get on in competitive action. As a manager you have to base your judgement on what you see in games and that’s how it has to be.”
In that context the game provided an opportunity for players such as Jamie Murphy, Eoin McDonagh, Donal O’Neill, Cillian De Paor and Eoin Concannon to show what they could do at county senior level. All the new panel members worked hard and will get more time over the next few weekends to see if they can nail down a spot on the panel for the league.
Kernan will be pleased to have started the year with a victory, but a broken collar bone for Milltown’s Darren Mullahy was a disappointment.
Galway face Leitrim next weekend in Ballinamore at 2pm and they will be hopeful of collecting another two points. Leitrim were held to a draw (1-11 to 0-14 ) by GMIT last Sunday and look to have some work to do.
Killkerrin’s Johnathan Ryan was the scoring ace for GMIT as he helped himself to 0-6 from corner forward and looked very lively.
Other Galway players who impressed for their colleges last weekend were Seán Armstrong and Gareth Bradshaw for NUIG, Colin Forde at full-back for UCD, and Adrian Faherty and Danny Cummins for Sligo IT.
