Seánie McGrath: Galway's lack of fight when need was greatest likely to persuade Shefflin to step down

You just wonder on the hurling side of the house have Galway people lost a little faith in both the players and management?

Tue, 28 May, 2024 - 06:18

Seanie McGrath

Decision time.

The curtain falling on the Munster and Leinster round-robins has seen focus drift more towards the departed than those still dancing.

For the embattled figures at the head of counties just exited, there are decisions to be made. Go again or walk away? Is there more risk than reward in staying put? Is there anything to stay put for? Will the final decision even be that of the manager?

We’ll go west to begin with. The decision to bring his tenure in Galway to a fourth year will be Henry’s and Henry’s alone. I do believe the county board will maintain faith in Shefflin. So, what does he do?

His most notable decision after exiting last year’s All-Ireland championship was to enlist the services of All-Ireland winning Tipp coach Eamon O’Shea. Doing so was an admission that the set-up and approach required a tactical alteration and a different kind of voice.

But it went spectacularly wrong. Flat all year. Even the very modest crowd at Salthill on Sunday, and the lack of atmosphere they fed, betrayed the fact that there was a knockout championship fixture playing out in front of them.

The Galway footballers, led by a local hero in Pádraic Joyce, are after finding a bit of form. You just wonder on the hurling side of the house have Galway people lost a little faith in both the players and management?

The performance had to have vexed Henry as much as the officials and opposing management did. It’s a performance and exit alien to his own playing days. It must have been desperately frustrating being involved with a team that didn't show sufficient heart. It tells you a lot about the mood in the camp that they didn't have or show said heart.

The lack of buzz to Conor Whelan this year stands as a microcosm for the complete lack of oomph to Galway’s displays in 2024.

You'd wonder is the camp as together as you'd expect when the likes of a Henry Shefflin are at the helm.

The manager will be hurting because he was such a winner, both as a player and then on the sideline with Ballyhale. But the three seasons out west have not bolstered his resume. He hasn’t a single piece of silverware — league or championship — to put on the table as evidence that his reign has been a successful or winning one.

Now parts of his tenure were promising, we won’t ignore that. They were level with Limerick 67 minutes into the 2022 All-Ireland semi-final. They should have won Leinster last year. But that's where it finishes. He would say himself it hasn't been a success.

It wouldn't surprise me if he did step down because there was no fight shown when it was demanded. After three years, I'd say he is really, really disappointed with the team's performance and his own performance.

Micheál Donoghue might have had a decision to make if his Dublin team had failed to finish in Leinster’s top three. Instead, his reign is now starting to bear similarities to Anthony Daly’s stint a decade earlier.

I was a Cork selector in 2013. If Ryan O'Dwyer didn't get sent off in that semi-final, who knows. Dublin were coming at the time.

Micheál is an All-Ireland-winning manager. He got his team superbly reorganised immediately after David Burke’s red card and they were able to begin capitalising on their numerical advantage while still facing into the gale.

And mentally too, their response to Galway’s late goal and the gap closing to three was composed and assertive.

No more than Cork, they are athletic, they have pace, and they are clever in their running. Danny Sutcliffe is regaining his form. Chris Crummey, whose return to the set-up in 2024 has been so important, contributed four points from half-back. Donal Burke’s 1-5 from play was almost the outstanding forward display of the weekend. He was pipped to that particular post by Antrim’s James McNaughton and his superb 2-3 to save their top-flight status.

Dublin are dark horses. Kilkenny are absolutely not flowing. Dublin will drive at the Leinster final in a fortnight.

In Tipperary, Liam Cahill says there are no decisions to be made. There’s only work to be done, and he will lead it.

Liam’s post-match comments from Thurles, when asked about his future, didn’t surprise me in the slightest. He is a strong-minded and steadfast individual.

While he did an unbelievable job with Tipperary at underage and then brought Waterford to an All-Ireland final, and brought them League glory, he’ll be the first to admit that he hasn’t got it right over the past two seasons.

While absolutely not as dire as the scorelines against Limerick and Cork suggested, I do think Tipp are a bit off. Gearoid O'Connor, a very good Fitzgibbon player, and Mark Kehoe, I am surprised they haven't pushed on. Liam obviously feels he can get them up to the level where another forward from that age bracket, Jake Morris, has risen to.

If he has the players on side, as he says he does, he is as well to stay and give the rebuild a proper rattle. Clearly there are shortcomings and different elements not coming together. There are ageing players. There are younger players that need fine-tuning and more confidence. He must, though, be seeing something in their ability to say I am the man to turn this around.

Liam Cahill is as good a tactician as is out there. If he can lift morale, which was absolutely obliterated in recent weeks, it will go a distance to getting his gameplan set.

Down the road in Waterford, I hope Davy’s decision is to go again. He has been brilliant for Waterford.

Disappointing last year. Didn't have a spectacular League this spring. But he has such faith in himself, and players can draw confidence from that. The Cork result was evidence of such.

Now, they made a mess of their summer against Tipperary. They should have seen out that game. Irrespective, Davy took over a team struggling, he went to a county where at underage level it has been really barren, and he put them back on the map as a team and county to be reckoned with.