Paul Clancy, Galway's highly-rated wing forward, is out of action for a couple of months. He broke his ankle playing for his club Moycullen in a relegation match against Clonbur at Caherlistrane - coincidentally the venue where Jarlath Fallon injured his cruciate ligament, the injury which forced him to miss most of last year's championship.

A most unfortunate player, Clancy missed out on the 1998 All-Ireland success (although he came on as a late replacement in the final against Kildare) with a hairline fracture and missed the Connacht final a year later also because of injury.

An impressive performer in Galway's run to last year's AllIreland final, Clancy had been in fine form in this season's National Football League.

He will now miss the rest of the competition and his participation in the first championship outing against Leitrim must also be in doubt. Better news for John O'Mahony is that Fallon, Kevin Walsh and Tomas Mannion are back in training.

Meanwhile, Brian McMahon, corner forward for Clare's footballers last season, is to transfer to Meath club Skryne and will be available to the Leinster county.

McMahon's father is a district justice who has been assigned to Meath and has settled just outside Navan within the Skryne catchment area.

McMahon, a student in NUI Galway, dropped off the Clare panel last year, saying that he would be spending this summer in the US. It's as yet unclear whether those plans will hold if he can break through onto the Meath panel.