Gridiron’s Galvin to get kicks at Croker
The Bandon native, who turns 21 in November, will make that a reality next August when he begins his final year of kicking duties for the University of Central Florida’s American football team in the Croke Park Classic.
If, as is highly likely, the game will be a sell out, he won’t be the least bit intimidated.
The opponents for that 2014 season opener will be one of the biggest college football teams in the US, the Nittany Lions of the storied Penn State University.
Galvin will be in that unique neck of the woods later today with UCF and, if the coin toss makes it happen, he will be kicking off their third game of the season in front of just over 100,000 rabid Penn State fans.
That’s not even the biggest crowd to ever momentarily set their attention on the young Corkman — last year at Ohio State — Penn State’s arch-rivals — the stadium nicknamed the Horseshoe packed in just shy of 105,000 fans, a figure which fell marginally short of the record attendance they would set within weeks at home to Nebraska.
Galvin thrives off that suddenly eerie moment when the anticipation reaches boiling point and a relative hush descends: just the kicker and the ball and 21 scattered players ready to unload on each other.
“It was unbelievable,” he told The Irish Examiner this week. “I remember putting the ball down for the kick-off and looking up and thinking, ‘wow, this place is huge’.
“I love it, absolutely love it. The more people watching, the more I get excited. Obviously fans love to watch a running back break tackles and that’s what gets them pumped up. As a kicker you’re supposed to be more relaxed. But if there are over 100,000 people there and everything goes quiet, they’re all looking at you... I love it.”
Galvin grew up as active as any of his buddies in Bandon playing soccer, Gaelic football, hurling and rugby. But there was always an added edge and confidence to how he approached all sport.
His father used to own the pub Jimmy G’s in Bandon before the family moved to Florida in 2004 and that brought out his showman side.
“The lads drinking there would be always giving me hassle in a fun way. We lived above the bar and I’d be kicking the soccer ball off the wall. They’d be messing with me, telling me I can’t do this, I can’t do that. I’d always get a good turnout at my GAA games because the people in the pub would show up. I wanted to put on a good display for them so I kind of got confident at an early age.”
He particularly remembers the banter he enjoyed with his second cousin, James Donovan, a prominent Clonakilty clubman and a bitter rival — despite the family ties.
“I’m Bandon through and through and I’d always love to give Clon a beating. That would make him mad. I loved it. The two teams never really got along. It was good craic after the games.”
A naturally outgoing pre-teen, it was inevitable he would quickly adapt to his new soccer team-mates in Florida and it was at Lemon Bay High School that he was spotted training with a round ball by American football coaches who liked how he returned an errant ball.
From there, he quickly became the target of college scouts and a scholarship at UCF as a kick-off specialist. After this season ends, he will complete a degree in interpersonal/organisational communication (not a surprise given his extremely open personality) and he will then round off his last year of eligibility with a Masters and a final season of football that will hopefully put him in line for a rare and coveted job in the professional game.
“I’d love it, that’s definitely the dream. But I have to keep working hard at it. We’ll see.”
It’s hard to rule out that dream especially given the fact he long predicted one day competing at Jones’ Road.
“When I was younger, I’d be telling mam and dad and all the boys that I’d play hurling for Cork at centre-back and I’m going to win an All-Ireland final at Croke Park. Then I come here and I find out I’ll be going back over there, to my homeland, with a different ball altogether. It’s amazing.”
Life as a student in Central Florida isn’t bad either.
“The weather is beautiful,” he says. “There’s nothing to dislike: great campus, great people. Then my team mates, they’re amazing. We’re like a family. I don’t live in dorms, I live off campus with football players. We’re together all the time. We’re like brothers. Friends for life, definitely.”
