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Galway's Cooney welcomes recruitment of Donaghy

 St Thomas’ Conor Cooney ahead of the AIB GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Club Championship Final taking place at Croke Park on Sunday, March 17th. 

 St Thomas’ Conor Cooney ahead of the AIB GAA All-Ireland Senior Hurling Club Championship Final taking place at Croke Park on Sunday, March 17th. 

By John Harrington

Galway hurler Conor Cooney has welcomed the appointment of former Kerry footballer, Kieran Donaghy, as a performance coach with the 2017 All-Ireland SHC champions.

Donaghy retired from inter-county football last year after 13-year career that saw him win four All-Ireland medals and three All-Stars.

Cooney hopes the ‘outside view’ he will bring to the role will prove beneficial for the Tribesmen.

“It’s great to have him there,” said Cooney today at the launch of the AIB All-Ireland Club Finals in Croke Park.

“He seems like a great guy and a great character, he was involved with a fantastic Kerry team there so, I suppose it’s an outside voice and an outside view and a different perspective on things.

“I always think that’s a good idea to challenge your own way of thinking and challenge the way you’re doing things

and maybe adapt and change. If you don’t you’ll probably become stagnant and ultimately you’ll be beaten.

“So yeah, he’ll be a great guy to have around especially for myself being a forward - I’ll be trying to glea a few gems of wisdom from him throughout the year so, yeah, looking forward to working with him.”

Former Kerry footballer, Kieran Donaghy.

Former Kerry footballer, Kieran Donaghy.

For now, Cooney’s immediate priority is club rather than County as he and his St. Thomas’ team-mates prepare for the AIB All-Ireland Club SHC Final against Ballyhale Shamrocks on March 17.

It looks like they’ll have to play without veteran forward Kenneth Burke who suffered a serious hamstring injury in the All-Ireland semi-final against Cushendall last month.

“Kenneth's under pressure,” said Cooney. “He got surgery there on his hamstring. Realistically, probably, he'll be out.

“We have a pretty good clean bill of health (otherwise).

“I suppose he'll be a massive loss for us. He's such a leader there and he has so much experience.

“He's so dedicated as well and he's just trained so hard. It's disappointing for him but we'll do our best to get the win and maybe do it for him in a way - it might light a fire under a few lads and get us going.”