The Galway minors, under the guidance of Clonbur’s Stephen Joyce, face a massive game this Sunday in McHale Park at 2.30pm when they take on the home team in the first round of the Connacht championship.
The losers on Sunday are out and there is no back door at this stage of the championship so it is a really big game for all the youngsters involved in both squads.
The Galway side is boosted with four players who saw action in last year’s All-Ireland series - team captain Sean Mulkerrin, Eoin McFadden, Liam Boyle, and key forward Evan Murphy.
Joyce and his management team will also be looking to Maitias Barrett (Leitir Mór ) and Conor Walsh (Claregalway ) around the middle to produce big performances, and they will also need players such as inside forwards Padraig Costello (Dunmore McHales ) and Dara Silke (Corofin ) to be in the zone too if they are to stop a highly-rated Mayo outfit.
Joyce is a wily campaigner and he knows his side will have to produce a super performance to get to the semi-finals that are fixed for late June after the Leaving Cert.
“We have prepared well and the lads are really looking forward to the game," he says. "We beat Mayo in the league, but that will count for nothing this weekend.
"Mayo schools are very strong in all grades and they won both the A, B and C senior schools competitions this year, so we know that they have some fine players. However, if we play to our full potential, we believe we can get out of there with a win. The main thing is to produce a performance we can be proud of, and if we do that, the result will take care of itself.
"We are all looking forward to the game and hopefully we will have a good Galway support to cheer us on."
