McInerney a doubt for Galway visit

While Clare won’t name the team to face Galway in Sunday’s Round 2 league clash at Cusack Park, the line-up won’t show many changes from the side that disappointed against Waterford two weeks ago.

There is concern about the fitness of full-back James McInerney due to a hamstring strain and a final decision on his fitness won’t be made until nearer match time.

The Newmarket man wasn’t able to take part in training last week because of the injury and its believed he has just a 50-50 chance of starting against last year’s All-Ireland finalists.

Nicky O’Connell is continuing to make progress  and will be available for the game. The Clonlara man didn’t start in the first round due to a back complaint but he was introduced for the second half. It remains to be seen if he will start this week.

Darach Honan is expected to be in the panel for Sunday’s game and may be see action.

Definitely ruled out is Aaron Cunningham who suffered a serious shoulder injury a few minutes after his introduction against Waterford. It’s likely the Wolfe Tones man will be out of action for a number of months as a result. Cian Dillon and Conor McGrath are still sidelined due to injury and won’t play any part on Sunday.

Following their impressive first round victory over titleholders, Kilkenny, the Connacht side will, understandably, enter Sunday’s contest as favourites. That said, they are likely to make the short journey to Cusack Park concerned about the challenge they will face. In recent years, Clare has been ranked as underdogs for a number of meetings with the Tribesmen but managed to upset their more fancied opponents.
The fact that the Banner side disappointed in Round 1 is sure to spur the players on to a huge effort this week.

As mentioned at the outset, not too many changes are expected from the team that went under to Waterford. In the event of James McInerney being  ruled out, it will be interesting to see who is handed the full-back role. With Cian Dillon already out due to injury, the likely replacement is young Tulla man David McInerney, who did so well in the role with the U-21s last year.

One of the big disappointments in round one was the form of the half-backs and it remains to be seen if there will be changes in this area. Nicky O’Connell could revert to wing-back, a role he has regularly filled for his club, or management may decide to move team vice-captain Enda Barrett to the sector in which he excelled for his club last season. Barrett could be named at centre-back releasing team captain Pat Donnellan for duty on the wing or at midfield.

To have any chance of winning, a huge improvement is needed in attack and, in particular, in the half-forward line. Colm Galvin is likely to start with Sean Collins also pushing for a place in the starting line-up. Tony Kelly and John Conlon look set to be in from the start.

Galway will travel minus the St Thomas’ contention as they continue their preparations for Sunday week’s All-Ireland club senior final. Joe Canning, Damian Hayes, Niall Healy and Cyril Donnellan are all expected to be in attack while, elsewhere, they will look to Iarla Tannian, Johnnie Coen, Kevin Hynes and Fergal Moore as they seek to score their second win of the campaign.

Galway look like they might have an edge in physique which should give them an advantage. If Clare are to get their first win of the campaign they will have to step up considerably and cope with the threat posed by Joe Canning, the Tribesmen’s main score-getter.

Clare have upset their neighbours in the past and emerged victorious when they have carried the underdogs’ tag. They will be hoping they can do the same again but it will take a mighty effort from Clare to deny Galway their second win of the campaign.