Galway boss sticks to winning formula

Galway manager Alan Mulholland has named an unchanged team for Saturday's Connacht SFC semi-final against Sligo in Salthill (throw-in 6pm).

Galway manager Alan Mulholland has named an unchanged team for Saturday's Connacht SFC semi-final against Sligo in Salthill (throw-in 6pm).

That means that Pádraic Joyce and Michael Meehan will be on bench duty again despite proving influential as second half substitutes in the quarter-final win over Roscommon.

Damien Burke and Sean Armstrong, who were replaced by Joyce and Meehan respectively, have held onto their starting berths in attack.

Burke is set to start despite doubts over his quad muscle injury. He had to sit out Corofin's opening match in the Galway Championship and did not train with the Galway squad last week.

Defenders Kieran McGrath and Keith Kelly have also been retained after making their Senior Championship debuts last time out.

Meehan is continuing to make steady progress in his return from a serious ankle injury, playing the full 60 minutes for Caltra in their recent County Championship victory over Claregalway.

He came off the bench to score two points against the Rossies and also played in Gary Sice for Galway's final goal in a 3-15 to 0-10 triumph.

Delighted to have Meehan back in the panel, Galway captain Finian Hanley said: "He's been out for three years but he's always been there and has trained so hard. It's great that he's back because it would be tough if he put all that work in with no reward.

"But he got his reward the last day (against Roscommon) and hopefully he can kick on from it. I don't think 70 minutes is on the cards for him yet.

"Hopefully if we can last into late June, July, he'll be able to see 70 minutes before the middle of summer. But I don't think at the minute he is ready for a full 70.

"It takes him a lot of time to recover after games. His foot was up for three or four days after the 20 minutes he played against Roscommon."

GALWAY (SFC v Sligo): Adrian Faherty; Kieran McGrath, Finian Hanley (capt), Keith Kelly; Garreth Bradshaw, Johnny Duane, Gary O'Donnell; Joe Bergin, Greg Higgins; Gary Sice, Damien Burke, Thomas Flynn; Sean Armstrong, Paul Conroy, Mark Hehir.

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