No stability, no future
The departure of Tomás Ó Flatharta from the senior helm is merely the latest episode in a sad drama that has unfolded out west over the last few seasons.
Paul Conroy has had a front row seat to all of the trauma. He was Galway’s All-Ireland minor-winning captain and midfielder in 2007 when they defeated Derry in the final and Kerry in the semi-final.
Next year in Division Two of the Allianz League, he will play county football under his fourth senior manager.
He has already outstayed Liam Sammon (2008 & 2009) before being dismissed, Joe Kernan (1 year) and now Tomás Ó Flatharta (10 months). It is impossible to blame Conroy for displaying a lack of consistency in his game or having not developed the potential he displayed in his younger days.
He has listened to three different management team’s telling him how to play in his four years in a senior jersey.
Four managers in five years at senior county football.
Consistency?
We can hardly spell the word in Galway and there has been none in recent times.
Stability is key for player and squad development and Galway have not had any at senior level since Peter Forde who had three years on the bridge.
Nobody with even a scant knowledge of Gaelic football would promote the notion that Galway are blessed with a hugely talented panel of players. They are not and there has been a lack of leadership on the field over the past few years.
But how do you develop players and leaders in a dressing room when the manager keeps being replaced?
The county has won All-Ireland U21 titles in 2002, 2005 and 2011, so surely there should be a few players of substance and note around the place.
The county should be performing and competing at a higher level than they have been over the past few years.
Nobody is talking about winning any major silverware, but some incremental progress would be pleasing.
Galway county football chairman, John Joe Holleran has been hugely involved and influential in Galway football since the 1970s and was a key individual in getting Kernan and Ó Flatharta in as Galway managers.
As county chairman he would also have a say in their removal. There is no doubt that there was a lot of pressure being exerted in certain quarters for Ó Flatharta to be removed after a poor series of results since last February.
However as current captain Finian Hanley pointed out on these pages yesterday: “Why are managers being appointed as quickly as they are being let go? It is a massive blow for any hope of making progress in the county.
“You have to ask the questions of the people who are making the decisions at the top table.”
Another grave problem for Galway football is that many people are stepping back from even thinking about getting involved in the administration side of the game in the county. There are very few fresh faces at county board level.
I was a county minor in 1988 and 23 years later it seems that many of the same men there then still occupy key positions.
That is not a healthy situation. Unless you have some fresh blood, how will you have fresh ideas?
Likewise, on the football side of things, many good men who know the club scene inside out and have serious football knowledge are not prepared to get involved as selectors.
I have to lay my cards on the table here and say that I was against Joe Kernan’s appointment as Galway manager.
It never stacked up in my view in terms of the distances he was travelling, the expense incurred and his lack of local knowledge. Then, after that failed, we compounded that mistake by going outside the county for his replacement.
If the people charged with picking the county manager keep getting their selections wrong as evidenced by their decision to sack them less than 12 months later, surely they need to look in the mirror and ask some questions.
