Stability is top of wish-list for Galway hero Connolly

JUST over a year ago, Ryan Connolly admitted that surgery on his injured toe would more than likely end his career. He had joined Shamrock Rovers from Galway United, but the issue meant he was unable to make any serious progress at Tallaght Stadium. Twelve months on and while the injury hasn’t gone away, the midfielder has a rather unfussy way of dealing with his situation since returning to help Galway back into the Premier Division. ‘Arthritis is arthritis. You have it and you just have to manage it as best you can,’ he said. ‘I won’t be taking any injections for it, if you start going down that route you won’t be able to walk in a few days. ‘If it gets worse, I’ll lay off it but once it’s fine I’ll keep going and luckily I haven’t had to miss any training or games with it. ‘The injury is still affecting me, but it’s fine. I don’t think I’ve played well but there is plenty of time to put that right.’ Galway were drawn away to North End United of Wexford in the first round of the Irish Daily Mail Cup, a tie the 26-year-old is wary of. ‘There is nothing easy, nothing easy. Especially going up, it’s a long journey and they will want to do well.’ With that game almost six weeks away, there is much more on Galway’s plate in the meantime. Not least the imminent takeover of the club by Saudi Arabian investors. Members of the fan group running the club voted in favour of the deal at an extraordinary general meeting last month and Connolly hopes it brings one thing. ‘Stability. That is what the club needs. We have a new manager now this week (Alan Murphy was promoted from the youth set-up) and it has been quite difficult. ‘Hopefully we can get that bit of stability for the rest of the season because we want to make the play-offs. ‘We don’t know what is happening with the takeover, it’s in discussions, it might not happen for all we know. We can’t worry about that stuff.’ Connolly is one of the few full-time players in the First Division and Galway would have been one of the favourites to bounce straight back up. Instead, manager Shane Keegan was sacked and they are vying for a place in the play-offs rather than automatic promotion. ‘Of course the league is the priority, it has to be, we will deal with the Cup when it comes around.’