Inside Track with John McIntyre

GALWAY have got their man. And it’s probably just as well that Micheál Donoghue’s head was turned in reprising his role as the Tribesmen’s senior hurling team manager given the lack of real interest in the position from other perspective candidates.

It wasn’t as if the likes of Kenneth Burke, Mattie Kenny, Fergal Healy or Cathal Murray wouldn’t be proud to succeed Henry Shefflin as Galway boss, but all four are heavily invested in managerial projects – two in the case of Burke – of their own and the timing simply wasn’t right.

Sure, the much-travelled and ubiquitous Davy Fitzgerald would have jumped at the chance to come West, but the vibes his ‘middle men’ were getting from Galway weren’t positive – so Fitzy high tails it off to Antrim instead where he succeeds another former inter-county goalkeeper in Darren Gleeson. Rumours about Liam Sheedy taking over Galway were just that.

Paul Bellew, the Galway GAA Chairman, had promised the county would have a new hurling manager in place by early September and the Pearses clubman had delivered on that commitment. Initially, local officials couldn’t be sure if Donoghue wanted to come back, but once he departed Dublin, the road ahead was made a lot smoother.

Travelling up and down to the capital was taking its toll on Donoghue, Franny Forde and Noel Larkin and though the trio had an option on a third season in charge, they instead stepped down, but that decision had little to do with the Galway vacancy. In fact, it must have been a difficult call as they had rebuilt the Dublin team, developed new talent, and were clearly making progress.

Sure, there were a couple of blow outs along the way – the 2023 All-Ireland quarter-final against Clare and in this year’s Leinster Final – but Dublin had closed their campaign with an honourable five-point loss to Cork in Thurles. It’s not difficult to imagine that Danny Sutcliffe and company are sorry to see them go.

Pictured: Dessie Hynes of St James’ on the attack against Dunmore MacHales’ Danny Forde during Sunday’s senior football championship tie at Tuam Stadium.  Photo: David Cunniffe.