Carew gives his thoughts ahead of FBD opener with Galway this weekend
AS the New Year gets underway, focus for Sligo boss Niall Carew is very much on the upcoming FBD League which starts this weekend.
His Sligo side have a tough opening fixture in Enniscrone this Sunday when they play Galway in the first round.
Carew said preparations have been going well in the run up to the FBD with the squad busy with winter training sessions.
He said that despite the Tribesmen being a tricky enough opening fixture, that it’s good to play these type of games early in the year.
“We are expecting a tough game with Galway, there’s no doubt about that but the way we’re looking at it, it’s good to get a game like this early on.”
The manager added the winter training has been positive for the side and things are shaping up well ahead of Sunday’s opener.
“The lads in fairness to them have been training hard and I suppose that doesn’t make us unique to other counties, everyone is training hard this time of the year.”
There is 42 names on the panel and these will be cut back in early January by Niall and his backroom team.
“At the moment we’ve 42 and we’ll need to reduce that to thirty or so.
“It’s good to have the competition there for places at this time of the year.
“So we’ll have to reduce the numbers down to thirty in early January,” the boss added.
There’s some familiar faces making a return to the panel, with Ross Donovan, Tony Taylor, Stephen Gilmartin and Stephen Coen all on the preliminary panel ahead of the new season.
Carew said it’s good to see the likes of these players back training and it bodes well for the 2017 season.
He added the preparations for Sunday have been going well and now everyone is looking forward to the opening encounter.
“As I mentioned we know Galway won’t be an easy match, they are all going to be tough enough but playing a side like Galway is a great game for us to begin with.
“We’re all looking forward to getting the season up and running,” he added. FBD INSURANCE LEAGUE FIXTURES 2017 January 8th Sligo v Galway Enniscrone, 2pm IT Sligo V Roscommon Boyle, 2pm Sligo v GMIT Centre of Excellence, 2pm IT Sligo v Mayo Ballina, 2pm Sligo v Leitrim TBC, 2pm IT Sligo v NUIG Centre of Excellence, 2pm