IT’S a bit early in the year to be facing a game of potential serious consequences, but that’s the backdrop to Galway hurlers’ first competitive fixture of 2025 at Pearse Stadium on Sunday (3.45pm).

For the new National League structure doesn’t allow much leeway for slippage and with two teams being relegated from Division 1A, the Tribesmen will be anxious to get early points on the board given their difficult schedule.

Though Galway host Tipperary in their league debut and also have All-Ireland champions Clare at home on Saturday, February 8, their other four group games comprise of away fixtures against Kilkenny, Wexford, Limerick, and Cork.

That itinerary begs the obvious question of why Galway have only two home matches, but last year’s league contest against Limerick was scheduled for the Gaelic Grounds only for the game to be moved to Pearse Stadium after the original venue was deemed unplayable.

That results in an unbalanced Division 1A programme for Galway and with the team in transition under new management, the priority over the coming weeks will be to protect their status in the top-flight.

That almost makes Sunday’s contest with Tipperary a must-win for Galway. In any event, the returning Micheál Donoghue, along with Noel Larkin, Franny Forde and Eamon O’Shea, would be looking for an early-season bounce regardless of what’s coming down the tracks.

Only time will tell if Donoghue’s decision to return home will be vindicated, especially as Dublin hurling seems to be on an upward curve again, a view substantiated by Na Fianna’s impressive victory over Sarsfields of Cork in the All-Ireland club final at Croke Park last Sunday.

Donoghue had been appointed for a three-year term, and though his first season ended in a heavy loss to Clare at the Gaelic Grounds, Dublin reached the 2024 Leinster Final and though well off the pace against Kilkenny, they regrouped to only lose by five points to Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

Donoghue and his management team were popular locally and the expectation was that he would at least see out his term at the helm in 2025, but Henry Shefflin’s departure from Galway threw a spanner in that works. The bottom line is that the Clarinbridge man couldn’t resist the prospect of rekindling their glorious path of 2017, especially as he was basically guaranteed anything he wanted.

Pictured: Galway’s Cianan Fahy aims for the posts as Tipperary defender Ronan Maher prepares to challenge during the 2023 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final at the Gaelic Grounds. The teams meet in the opening round of the league on Sunday.