By Cian O'Connell

Galway manager Micheal Donoghue has backed the new Hurling Championship proposal.

Speaking at a media event ahead of next month's Leinster SHC Final against Wexford, Donoghue is adamant that a new format could work.

“Yeah, I think it’s very proactive," Donoghue replied when asked about the proposals for the reform of the Hurling Championships which will be debated at Special Congress on Saturday, September 30.

"From the senior perspective it’s going to be good to get some home games if it goes through and obviously the under-21s in Leinster as well, I think for the last couple of years they have probably been neglected as well.

"In an ideal world, if we could get both minor and under-21 teams into Leinster and get competitive games for all the teams that’d be great, but it’s a hugely positive step for us."

Donoghue has welcomed the possibility of Championship games at Pearse Stadium, highlighting the significant 12,457 crowd which attended the Allianz Hurling League Quarter-Final win over Waterford at the Salthill venue.

“I think you only have to go back to the Waterford game in the League," Donoghue says.

"The footballers played Kildare, we were playing Waterford. For the last number of months because both teams have been doing really well there’s a lot of anticipation, but huge goodwill and I think you saw on that day the crowd that was there for both games.

"It would just gave you a taste of what might come down the road as well. We have great supporters that always come out to support and there’s always a frenzy when we are playing at home so it’d be great if we had that on a regular basis."

Donoghue also confirmed that Jonathan Glynn will miss the Wexford encounter due to injury. “He had a meniscus operation three weeks ago so he’s doing ok, he’s doing well," Donoghue says.

"He’s working really hard so the timeline on that hopefully will be that he’ll be able to do something the week after the Leinster Final.

“It happened in his first club game back this year. He had a scan immediately after it and it didn’t show up initially on it so just because it was irritating him for weeks after that we got it re-scanned again and the quickest thing for him was to get the operation.

“He’s currently in the States at the minute so he’s doing rehab and stuff, he’s working over there. The next two weeks we’ll revisit again and see where we are with him."