SKEHILL OPTS OFF GALWAY PANEL

GALWAY hurlers have been dealt a blow by experienced goalkeeper James Skehill’s decision to quit the county squad. He walked away from the panel following training on Friday night with the Tribes’ management being forced to call up Aidan Ryan as cover for Sunday’s defeat away to Kilkenny. Having battled back from a shoulder injury, Skehill (right) was vying with Colm Callanan for the No 1 jersey this year after he had been first choice stopper for the last two seasons under Anthony Cunningham. Galway selector Damien Curley insisted that there had been no indication such a move was on Skehill’s mind. ‘There is no real spin to put on it at all, James just told us after training on Friday night that he wanted to leave the panel. ‘We spoke with him and tried to talk him round, but he was adamant he wanted to leave. He works in Cong and I think the long drive over and back to training might have something to do with it. Apart from that I don’t know why he might have decided to leave.’. Skehill started both of Galway’s All-Ireland finals against Kilkenny in 2012 despite dislocating a shoulder in the final training session before the replay. This year Callanan appeared to have the march on the Cappataggle man, but Skehill started the recent interprovincial final against Leinster at Croke Park. And Curley admitted he was surprised to see him quit with the slog of early season now behind the side. ‘It is a strange time to go alright, and James was a great lad to train as well. It is unusual for a lad to cash in their chips at this stage of the season. It really came out of the blue for us and I got a shock myself. ‘But Aidan Ryan will be training with us this week and we’ll get to have a right look at him now. The most important thing this week is to try and engineer a win against Tipperary. It’s a winner takes all match,’ he added.