MAROON THRIVE Tribesmen riding high and Sice believes sky is limit this season
2016 champions Na Piarsaigh.
He said: “Paul was probably just a small bit off playing against Liam Mellows. And the rehab, by all accounts, has gone really well.
“He’s done this in the past, he’s got himself right for big games. So we’re hoping for the same on the 17th.
Cuala are bidding to become just the fifth club in the history of the competition to retain the title and O’callaghan admitted: “It’s definitely been a bit more subdued this year. Probably the novelty has worn off. But I’m sure behind the scenes there’s a lot of that stuff.
“But as a player, I haven’t seen it. And I’m thankful I haven’t.” GARY SICE is hugely excited by the “frightening” potential of the Galway footballers as they close in on an Allianz League final spot.
In their first season back in Division One since 2011, Galway boast a 100 per cent record from their four games and if they beat Monaghan on Sunday and Kerry lose to Dublin the same afternoon, they’ll be through to the League decider for the first time since 2006. Sice, who announced his retirement from county football after last year’s campaign and is currently preparing for Corofin’s AIB All-ireland club final against Nemo Rangers on St Patrick’s Day, is particularly enthused by the possibilities in attack for Galway.
He said: “It’s early days but I think they have the potential to do awful damage. I think if they all clicked on the one day it would be frightening.
“It would be fantastic and it would be exciting for Galway supporters, myself included for the next couple of months to see them evolving and getting the hard ground and letting loose on teams.
“It will be interesting to see what goes on, but I am excited about them.”
Newly appointed captain Damien Comer has been particularly eye-catching up front.
“He is just a wrecking ball, isn’t he?” Sice continued. “Fantastic footballer. He’s going to have a good summer hopefully and it will be important for Galway that he does.
“He is a footballer on top of it all. We kind of get sidetracked by the wrecking ball status he has. He is actually a very, very good footballer. I think as the ground hardens up and the weather gets better, he is only going to get better too.”
Another member of the attack, Danny Cummins, spoke late last year of how Galway needed to acquire some “dark arts”, but Sice played that down.
“I don’t know is it dark arts. It’s just a little bit of experience. They’ve went shoulder to shoulder with some of the bigger teams and they are matching up in every way, so whatever the dark arts are they must have done something, because they are matching up to Kerry now, to Tyrone and these guys.
Galway have developed a defensive, counter-attacking style under Kevin Walsh which is something of a shift from the county’s traditions though Sice insists they are just adapting to the requirements of modern football.
He added: “I don’t see what they are doing different to any other team in the country. Tyrone have done it for years. Dublin are doing it. I was [in Croke Park] at a League game I saw and no Dublin player in the other half.
“I think Galway are just playing very well at the moment. Everyone is doing their job, working hard for the team.
“You can call it defensive, whatever you want to do, but it’s just a style of football that’s winning for them at the moment and if it’s letting the likes of Eamon Brannigan get 50 yards of space one-on-one I am happy enough with it.
“Maybe we had to evolve a little bit to match up with what’s out there.”
PWDL