Galway manager Anthony Cunningham expects to be without several regulars in the coming weeks as his side ramp up their preparations for the national league.

Injuries to David Burke, Cyril Donnellan, Shane Kavanagh and Iarla Tannian means management is sweating over their availability for the start of the NFL, while Tony Og Regan is the biggest name to miss out on Cunningham’s initial open-ended Galway squad with new selectors Eugene Cloonan and Damien Curley.

“We have a few injuries that have carried over from last year, they were all under treatment during the winter, but they won’t be back until the league or even later.

“David and Cyril have groin injuries. They got operations on them and they are going through a recovery programme now. Iarla has a hip injury – they are nearly all the same type of injury from wear and tear. We won’t play those lads in the Walsh Cup, we’ll be giving a big chance to other lads.

“We’d hope to have them back by mid-February. I won’t rule them out of the start of the league just yet: we’d hope to have them back, but it depends on how their treatment goes. They won’t be playing in January for sure so fingers crossed,” Cunningham said.