Joyce hopeful Kelly will be available

By Cian O’Connell

Galway manager Padraic Joyce is hopeful captain Seán Kelly will be available to play some part in the All-Ireland SFC Final against Armagh at Croke Park on July 28.

The Maigh Cuilinn clubman was a substitute for the Semi-Final win over Donegal, but has subsequently trained with the Galway panel.

Speaking at a press event ahead of the Armagh encounter, Galway boss Joyce said: “Sean is training away, he trained Tuesday night.

“Look, he probably wasn’t fully ready the last day so we are hoping to get another two weeks into him and we will check him out. Hopefully, he will be available for some sort of time anyway.”

Joyce confirmed that Shane Walsh and Damien Comer will be available for selection. “The boys are fine,” Joyce added. “The boys that came off, the nature of Shane’s injury is that he could not stay any longer on the pitch and we took him off and gave him a bit of rest.

“He needs to put a bit of work in now for a bit of rehab for the next two weeks and if we get as much out of him again in two weeks time, we will be happy enough. Damien is the same.”

Ultimately, it means that Cian Hernon, who suffered a hand injury last week, is the only player unavailable for Galway. “You would be heartbroken for the craytur, he just went over on his wrist here in one of the last plays, he got shouldered on the ball and I think his hand was trapped under the ball and he did quite a bit of damage to his hand,” Joyce remarked.

“It is tough on him because he had been away all year on Erasmus from January to May. He came back in really good shape, he is a great young fellow, I would have great time for him. It is tough for him and his family that he is missing out on it.”