GALWAY HURLING: ONLY HALF the Galway hurling squad turned up for a meeting on Saturday night in Athenry to discuss the impending ratification of Ger Loughnane as manager.

Rumours were rife throughout the county yesterday that the squad had met and voted against the reappointment of the Clare man for a third year. But this has been vehemently denied by senior players who said the meeting had been called to get players' views and see if there was a particular direction they wanted to go.

"There is a view among some players that the backroom team needs to be shaken up and Ger will be informed of that if he is reappointed on Monday night," said one senior player. "But there definitely was no vote taken. There were only 16 or 17 players there and it was felt there was no point in voting as that would represent the view of only about half the squad."

Since the meeting the rumour machine has been working overtime with the hurling board split down the middle on the issue. "I know there are all sorts of stories flying around the place since the meeting but other than freshening up the backroom team there is no issue with Ger. It is up to the clubs to decide whether he is ratified and the sooner that happens the better," added the senior player.

The meeting to decide Loughnane's future will be held tonight at Raheen Woods Hotel, Athenry. He is not expected to attend nor is it expected details of his backroom team will be announced beforehand.