Seán Moran assesses the mood in the Galway camp after a year of rowsand controversy off the field and relative inactivity on the field

Galway hurling manager Noel Lane should be fairly pleased when tomorrow afternoon's Guinness All-Ireland qualifier against Cork gets under way. It will be the team's first exposure to serious action since last year's All-Ireland final and will redirect attention back on to the field after a difficult few months.

Lane's achievement in building a management team that included forceful personalities like former Clare trainer Michael McNamara and Galway hurling legend John Connolly was seen as a tribute to his lack of ego. The progress of the county to within a score of Tipperary in the All-Ireland was in retrospect a reasonably satisfactory season's work.

But in the months since last September the on-field improvement has been lost in a series of controversies and irritations.

Within a couple of months of the All-Ireland, goalkeeper Michael Crimmins was dropped from the panel just as he was being nominated as an All Star for 2001. Officially Lane said that Crimmins was being rested and might well be back but it was no secret that the goalkeeping error that led to Tipperary's second goal in the All-Ireland had crystallised disillusion among the selectors.

There didn't appear to be a firm prospective replacement. For the National League Clarinbridge's Liam O'Donoghue was brought in but dispensed with and Crimmins brought back with the championship in the offing. Unhappy about his treatment, he needed persuasion.

But the major controversy centred on dual player Alan Kerins, who was handed an ultimatum in April to give up football or be dropped from the panel.

A member of the All-Ireland winning football panel of the previous year, Kerins' hurling was perceived to have suffered because of the dual involvement. The public got an inkling of the brewing controversy when John Connolly stepped down as selector.

Close to Monty Kerins, Connolly was hardly going to stand over the removal from the panel of his friend's son. Despite exhaustive attempts at compromise by John O'Mahony and the county footballers, Lane and his selectors stuck to their guns and Kerins was dropped.

Normally a reserved enough individual, Kerins was angry at his treatment and made that anger public. The public took the player's side and pressure grew on Lane.

"I was surprised it was handled the way it was," says one former inter-county manager. "Noel Lane was right about the need nowadays to concentrate on hurling but to issue an ultimatum was unnecessary. If a player isn't going well, you drop him from the team and let him realise that he needs to make the choice."

Mark Kerins, his brother, also temporarily left the panel and was the subject of rumours that he was going to the US and wouldn't be available for the hurlers. Eventually the contretemps was sorted out but without Kerins abandoning his football career and therefore forcing Lane into public retreat.

The new qualifier system would have been a major benefit for Galway had they drawn one of the big teams in the first round. Because of a tortuous accommodation with the Hurling Development Committee's blueprint, Galway would have been allowed a second match had they been defeated in the first round. So it was in their interest to draw Cork or Clare or a similar challenge.

Instead they drew Down and executed one of their routinely merciless slayings but without learning anything about the team. Their exemption gone, they then drew Cork who they face in Thurles tomorrow.

That wasn't quite the end of it. Phelim Murphy, the patriarch of the county's hurling board, was critical of the decision to play the match in Thurles on a double bill with the Munster football final on the grounds that it was unacceptable that Galway supporters would have to pay double bill prices to watch the Tipperary footballers.

Lane when questioned on local radio, distanced himself from the complaint and painted a very upbeat picture of preparations and spoke of how the team was looking forward to going to Thurles.

He appears to have caught the public mood because reports from the county suggest that demand for tickets is better than expected and that for once the normally reluctant following for the hurlers is enthused at the prospect of a tilt with Cork whom they haven't faced in championship since the firecracker All-Ireland of 1990.

Michael McNamara said at the beginning of this year's championship that incremental progress is not a widely accepted currency in the county.

"In Galway things aren't seen that way. Improvement isn't beating Kilkenny or Cork in the championship.

"The public demands success because there's been underage success although that's no guarantee. The perception is 'what the hell is wrong?' "

Ironically given the warming public mood, a good display tomorrow might prove him wrong.