GALWAY MANAGER Pádraic Joyce is hopeful that All-Star Damien Comer will be back for some part of the Allianz League after being stretchered off with a serious knee injury in their 0-9 to 0-8 loss to Roscommon.
The Annaghdown clubman is to undergo a scan to establish the extent of the damage as the injury and absentee issues grow for the All-Ireland finalists.
Galway are already without New Zealand-based All-Star Liam Silke and the injured Kieran Molloy for the season, while it has been confirmed that corner-forward Rob Finnerty will be out for four to six weeks with an ankle injury picked up in the draw against Mayo on the opening weekend.
Another of their All-Stars, Shane Walsh, is away after his exploits for adopted club Kilmacud Crokes and now it looks like the third member of his All-Ireland final full-forward line Comer is set for a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury.
“I’m not a doctor. He has to go for a scan to see but it doesn’t look good,” said Joyce. “We’re disappointed to lose the game in the first instance, the injury to Damien probably had a downer really on the rest of the lads and we didn’t really recover much after that so, look, just a bad day all round for us with injuries and losing the game.
“Damien’s looks like a knee injury, hopefully, it’s not overly bad and he plays some part in the league yet.
“He’s one of the leaders on the pitch there for us, one of the most popular lads in the dressing room so lads would be disappointed for him.”
Galway, having been caught by a late Mayo equaliser in their opening league game, again suffered late heartbreak when Richard Hughes kicked the winner for Roscommon in the fourth minute of injury time.
“It was disappointing, we were up the pitch and probably felt there should be a free on our side, but we turned the ball over too many times up our side of the pitch in the advanced areas inside our own 45 and Roscommon hit us on the counter. But credit to Roscommon they stuck at it, they had a gameplan the way they wanted to play, we knew it was going to be a battle all day long, they just had the better finishers on the pitch at the end of the day.”
Joyce also confirmed the extent of the injury picked up by Rob Finnerty in the draw against Mayo.
“He just did ankle ligament damage, so that’s four to six weeks. Another scoring forward gone,” added Joyce.
Presuming Leinster send a B team to SA. Bulls will be hoping they drop points and bulls will go full out for top spot with pretty much all home games now till the end …would like to see a fully loaded Leinster playing the bulls in the final in Pretoria ..that would be awesome to see….
@Stuart: I say they will send a B side with the Northampton game after the SA tour
@Stuart: I reckon Munster are more than a bit offended that the Bulls couldn’t be bothered playing their strongest team in CC quarter final. Hoping for a cracking match.
@sean o’farrell: send a good mix, start most of the first squad in game 1 and the so called B team in game 2 with a strong bench. Loads of game time and fantastic team building trip.
@chris mcdonnell: they may fly the A team back after the Lions game – I think they did that a few season ago – B team should still be stronger than the team we put out last year when we played the Bulls
This season could work for Leinster. Last year; the URC and Champions Cup Semi finals were all in May This year, URC doesn’t finish until June; so they won’t have to decide which semi final to priortise. They can go full strength for both. So if Leinster are going to do the double; this is the year to do it They won’t get as long a season next year, so managing knockouts of two completions with a trip to SA will be more difficult.