Fallon calls it a day

Galway have lost the services of Ja Fallon, one of their most talented players of the current generation, who has announced his retirement from intercounty football.

The 32-year-old had been struggling with a series of injuries in recent years but his decision to retire has left a major hole in the Galway football panel, and was accepted with regret by manager John O'Mahony.

Fallon was at his peak when Galway collected the All-Ireland title in 1998, and was deservedly named footballer of the year for his part in that success. A cruciate ligament injury ruled him out of action for the entire 2000 championship, and he has battled against a series of minor injuries since.

"Ja had reached the point where he was training and playing through the pain barrier," said O'Mahony yesterday. "That was frustrating for a player of such high standards. If it wasn't for those series of injuries I'm sure he would have had another season or two in him but it had become very difficult for him."

O'Mahony assembled his panel for the first meeting of the year on Monday night, and it was there Fallon made his announcement.

"This was a player who has served Galway football for 13 or 14 years now. He will be missed not only as a player, also as a leader on the field, as a great motivator, and an inspiration to younger players in the county. I remember when I started as manager in late 1997 he was still playing rugby at the time, and one of the things I had to do was try to get him back involved. He turned out to be a major part of the jigsaw in the 1998 success, and he has remained an inspiration to the team on and off the field," O'Mahony said.

During his career Fallon collected two All-Ireland senior titles (1998 and 2001) and four Connacht senior titles (1995, 1998, 2002 and 2003). There was better news for O'Mahony in that the other veterans in the panel, Kevin Walsh, Seán de Paor and Gary Fahey, have all committed for another season.

Meanwhile, Dublin's director of hurling Diarmuid Healy has singled out three areas for special attention in his efforts to raise the standard of the game in the county. The approach to team preparation and the quality of both pitches and hurleys available to Dublin need to be improved for the county to undergo the radical transformation that Healy envisages.

These three areas also form the basis of Healy's presentation for Saturday's Dublin Hurling Symposium in Croke Park. The Challenges Facing Dublin Hurling, the title of Healy's presentation, forms part of the day-long symposium which also includes guest speakers Brian Cody, Donal O'Grady, Liam Griffin and Nicky English.

"I've prioritised these three areas if we are to start to achieve the radical transformation in Dublin hurling," said Healy. "For a start I believe the approach to team preparation is wrong. Too much of it is based on the preparation for other games. Even compared to football the preparation for hurling is totally different. Too much of it is still based on physical preparation. And we are talking about changing that preparation from senior right down to the underage squads.

"I also believe that hurling pitches in Dublin are not being properly maintained, and are generally of a poor quality. The grass is often too high, and that is something that has to be tackled across the county.

"And I've been very surprised by the poor quality of hurls I've seen in Dublin. That's another big problem. It appears to me that Dublin has become a dumping ground for poor-quality hurleys, and that has to stop."

New Cork football manager Billy Morgan will announce his three selectors this week. Ted Owens, who was the hurling trainer when Cork last won an All-Ireland in 1999, is expected to be joined in the new management set-up by Seán Murphy and former full back Colman Corrigan.