Niall Moran: Galway midfield an early season boost for manager Micheál Donoghue

Galway's midfield pairing of Cianán Fahy and Tom Monaghan could spearhead the rebuild under manager Micheál Donoghue, according to former Limerick player Niall Moran.

Donoghue has returned to the Tribes hotseat, though the core group that propelled the county to All-Ireland glory eight years ago have either departed or are in the latter stages of their careers.

Unearthing new players is part of the league campaign for Donoghue, with the likes of Gavin Lee at centre-back and Anthony Burns hitting 2-03 on his debut against Clare at the weekend catching the eye.

A sobering home defeat to Tipperary has been followed up with morale-boosting away win at Kilkenny before seeing off a depleted Clare last weekend.

Speaking on 2fm’s Game On, Moran said that the midfield pairing of Monaghan and Fahy looks well balanced.

Neither are new faces to the scene.

Monaghan has an All-Ireland medal from 2017 but was dropped off the panel by then manager Shane O’Neill in 2020 before working his way back into favour.

Fahy has been in the Galway set-up since 2022, operating primarily in the half-forward line, but Donoghue has been road-testing the pair in the middle of the pitch.

Monaghan has averaged two points from play per game in his three outings while Fahy has been an industrious presence and a key ball-winner in the middle third.

"I’d say the feeling in Galway is that it is going to take a while," Moran said. "It takes time to try and rebuild a new team.

"Saturday (against Clare) was excellent, but Clare were down an awful lot of players.

"The key positive for me has been the consistency of Tom Monaghan and Cianán Fahy at midfield.

"Fahy gives an excellent dimension in the air, while Monaghan is very, very pacy. It brings two different styles of