Dara Bradley

IT just keeps getting easier, doesn’t it? Fresh from an away defeat to the Munster champions, Cork, the Galway senior football team have the unenviable task of welcoming reigning All-Ireland and National Football League title holders Kerry, to Pearse Stadium on Sunday (2.30pm).

With two points from a possible six, pressure is beginning to mount on Galway who probably need at least another four points from the possible eight in the remaining four fixtures – and the injury casualties are beginning to stack up, too.

Galway manager Joe Kernan has confirmed that Sean Armstrong will be out of action for at least a month and will miss the remainder of the league after pulling his hamstring early on at Páirc Uí Rinn.

In addition to Armstrong, who captained the Tribesmen last weekend, there are six other players who are definitely ruled-out with injury. Gareth Bradshaw was in the programme to start against Cork but didn’t play due to a calf injury and is likely to be sidelined for a couple of weeks.

Leitir Mór’s Éoin Ó Conghaile is almost certain to start between the posts again as Galway’s two goalkeepers Paul Doherty (ankle) and Adrian Faherty (shoulder) are still injured while Niall Coyne (ankle) and Pádraic Joyce are also not available.

The good news is Nicky Joyce, who was carrying an injury into the Cork match, is “100%” for Sunday while Fiachra Breathnach and Declan Meehan have recovered and are in contention for a place in the starting line-up which was to be announced late last night (Thursday) after training. Niall Coleman, who was absent due to a family bereavement last weekend, also returns to the fold for the Kerry clash.

The Kingdom have been in a bit of transition since last September with Darragh O Se retiring and Tommy Walsh heading to Australia, and Paul Galvin suspended, but Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper and Kieran Donaghy showed last weekend in their win over Derry in Tralee that Kerry’s attack is still lethal.

Speaking to Tribune Sport this week, Kernan said he felt the Rebels wreaked havoc in the 10 minutes period after Armstrong was carried off, when his team had lost its shape. But the Armagh native was pleased in particular with the work rate shown by his players when they were without possession and he will be looking for a similar attitude – but this time for 70 minutes – against Jack O’Connor’s men.

“I was very happy with the way we started but when Seán got injured, we just lost our shape for about ten minutes and that’s when the damage was done. We had matched them up to that point but they did damage until we brought (Joe) Bergin back to centre forward,” he said.

“In fairness, Cork are together a long time and they have experience and it’s the way they play the game – they open up the space and inject power and pace into the game and were badly exposed at times – they ran through (Galway’s defence) a few times in the first half.

“Since the first day against Mayo I’d like to think we’ve improved. For us it’s all about getting a gelled team together, getting to know each other and having fellas 100% and fit for the championship.

“Kerry are next and that’s the beauty about this competition, every game is a test and every game we are learning more about ourselves. Galway’s record against Kerry isn’t that good – I think they’ve played seven times in the past few years and only won once. Hopefully, we can turn that around because we need the two points,” he added.