There is good news for Galway footballers as All Star goalkeeper Martin McNamara returns to training tonight. A year ago, McNamara shocked the county by announcing he was retiring from the intercounty game but reconsidered and lined out in the championship.

He feels a lot more enthusiastic about this year's return having enjoyed a long rest since his club Corofin were beaten in the county championship last September. Prior to that McNamara had been on the go for nearly two years between club commitments which saw Corofin win the All-Ireland and an inter-county season which culminated in Galway emulating the club in 1998.

"Last year there were so many celebrations and drinking and late nights that going training in the New Year was like going to work. Now I've had a nice little break and I'm looking forward to going back."

Further complications were added by McNamara's developing pub business and the demands that made on his time. Now he has settled a routine for managing the bar and is ready to give the intercounty scene his full attention again.

"Business did influence my decision last year and it can still be bad enough. I open up at 4.30 in the evening but I'm just open and I'm off again to training and then rushing back afterwards. But I'm 33 - although I've told lies to match programmes - and the demands of training won't get any easier. So I have to make the most of what time I've left.

"Demands have changed so much since I started eight years ago. Back then training was over in an hour and you were home. Now there's harder work followed by team meetings because John (O'Mahony) likes to talk out problems and there's always plenty of those."

McNamara accepts that his performances in 1998 when he was the goalkeeping All Star and a contender for Footballer of the Year were closely linked to the levels of fitness he enjoyed.

"Definitely. I never put in as much effort as I did in 1998. John O'Mahony was very good at pushing me in a nice way. Fitness helps me unreel myself in a game, it makes me more flexible and had me think faster. I wasn't as fit last year and I think that was obvious against Sligo."

O'Mahony will now look ahead to strengthening the panel further and getting back Tomas Mannion and Michael Donnellan who are respectively resting and playing soccer.

Last weekend saw the GAA's Central Council adopt an experiment for the NHL which involves starting the match with a puck-out rather than a throw-in. The move is based on the potential for trouble at such throw-ins, most vividly demonstrated at the beginning of the 1998 Munster final replay.

All-Ireland winning manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy is in favour of the move - without being passionately moved by the subject. "This is something which was mooted last year," he said. "It's an obvious enough move. Lots of sports, like American football and rugby, start with a kick off. It's not an earth-shattering development.

"There's always a bit of tension at a throw-in and that can spill over. But I think it's a more orderly way to start a match. I don't think teams practise throw-ins apart from which of the midfielders goes in front and who goes behind so I can't see it having a major influence on matches."

Meanwhile there has been a setback for Kerry with news that Maurice Fitzgerald has sustained a hairline fracture in his leg. The injury was picked up in a challenge match in Killarney at the weekend and aborts the player's comeback just as he had returned from a previous leg injury which kept him in dry dock for over four months.

Fitzgerald will be x-rayed again next month to see if rest has healed the problem. Paidi O Se will be anxious to have the 1997 Footballer of the Year back as soon as possible because he needs the match practice. Defender Tomas O Se is also out for the next month after a cartilage operation.