Galway manager Pádraic Joyce is hoping that defender Jack Glynn is not facing an extended period on the sidelines after suffering a suspected jaw injury in their three-point All-Ireland round-robin win over Tyrone on Saturday.
The Claregalway man had to leave the pitch in the 19th minute following a collision with Tyrone's Frank Burns, who was red-carded as a result, and the Tribe boss said that they were concerned about the possible prognosis.
"We lost Jack with the tackle and it looked like a poor challenge on Jack, Frank will admit that himself," Joyce told RTÉ Sport.
"He just mistimed it and hit him in the face. Hopefully he’ll be OK but there’s a bit of concern on him there.
"He’s groggy and he’s concussed a little bit. He's more concerned about his jaw now, his jaw could be in a bit of bother. We’ll get him to hospital and get him assessed."
While happy with the result, Joyce was less enamoured with the passiveness of his side when Tyrone were reduced to 13 players in the first half after Red Hand goalkeeper Niall Morgan was black-carded soon after Burns’ departure.
"It was a poor performance overall by us, at the same time we stuck at it. We probably were the better team on the day but I wouldn’t be overly excited about the performance that we put in there.
"[It was] a bit lateral, lacking a bit of energy in the first half, especially when they went down to 13 players with their goalkeeper off the pitch, one of their main players. We just didn’t really capitalise on that.
"A couple of pot-shots in the first half as well, we struggled to get scores and we found it hard to work a score. We kind of played into Tyrone’s hands a bit as well.
"We knew how they’d set up defensively, we just took the ball into the tackle a few times, we didn’t stretch them up the pitch enough and didn’t make them chase around a bit more.
"Look, happy to get out of it, they’re a top-class side and if you beat Tyrone by three points, any day you’d be happy."
If there was one exception to the rule for the Galway boss, it was for Glynn’s replacement Cathal Sweeney.
"I thought Cathal Sweeney came in and had an unmerciful impact on the game. He did his man-marking duties really well in the full-back line, he probably never played there before.
"He attacked the ball, he just carried the fight to them all day and we were just lacking that from the other players on the pitch in the first half, but delighted to get over the line, delighted to win the game."
Tyrone joint-manager Brian Dooher said that they had full designs on leaving with both points, but he was proud of how his team played despite their numerical disadvantage.
"There's no getting away from it, we came down here and intended to take two points from it and it didn’t happen," said Dooher, who didn’t want to comment on the red card incident having not watched a replay at the time.
"I suppose we had an uphill battle from the start losing a man and then the black card on top of it, it left things very difficult ion the first half.
"We expended a lot of energy to get there and keep the game relatively tight, but I thought the boys worked hard, I couldn’t fault them for their application and their attitude.
"Maybe we didn’t make the right decision a few times but you’re always going to have that. They definitely put in a good shift I thought."
It’s now four championship losses in a row for the 2021 All-Ireland champions and it ramps up the pressure ahead of their meeting with Armagh in Omagh in two weeks’ time, Kieran McGeeney’s side welcoming Westmeath to the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds before that.
"It’s going to be a huge game for us and Armagh both," said Dooher, who takes the side with Feargal Logan.
"There’s very little between both teams. We saw Armagh last week, they’re unlucky not to be Ulster champions.
"We played them a few weeks before that [Allianz league] and there was nothing in it, so it’ll be nip and tuck I’m sure."
