Anthony Daly: The music had stopped in Galway, Henry had to get off the merrygoround

A rebuild would have needed another three years, which Henry Shefflin was never going to get.

SIGNING OFF: Galway manager Henry Shefflin signs hurls for fans after the win over Antrim. Pic ©INPHO/Ben Brady

As soon as Galway were beaten by Dublin in the final round in Leinster in Pearse Stadium in May, I felt the curtain had fallen on the Henry Shefflin era. I couldn’t see a future for him with this team. It didn’t work. It wasn’t working. And was unlikely to work in the future.

In another way, another future needed to be shaped in Galway. The harshest critics in the county will say that the team needed to be rebuilt in the last few years and that Henry wasn’t interested in that reconstruction. He was there to win an All-Ireland with what he had. Henry had one year left on his deal but what was the point in doing one more season? A rebuild would have needed another three years, which Henry was never going to get.