Hayes would love another chance to guide Galway fortunes

GALWAY manager Conor Hayes admits he would love another chance at guiding the county to its fifth All-Ireland SHC title.

And he believes this crop of players are capable of delivering that crown.

Hayes’s mandate ended on Sunday and it remains to be seen if he is handed another term next season.

Captain of All-Ireland-winning sides in 1987 and 1988, Hayes was controversially given a one-year extension earlier this year following the disappointing 2004 championship exit.

“I have to look at my own situation,” he said at the team’s Dublin base of Citywest yesterday. “I’ve three years done and it is fairly hard going. I find it very time-consuming and it’s a difficult job. I have to sit down and look at it over the next few weeks and make a decision by the end of September.

“The (players) are anxious for the whole thing to stay together but I don’t know if that will happen. Logistically, physically or time-wise it might not, but there’s certainly an All-Ireland in these lads and I’d love to be a part of it if that happened.”

Hayes believes that Cork reaped the rewards of a policy that valued continuity both in management and playing personnel. Galway, he hopes, can take heed from the champions’ example.

“I’d find it easier to pick the Cork team than the Galway team at times. That’s a sign of a very settled side and that was the thing that worried me coming into the game.

“The preparation was right for it, but we’re a relatively new team and Cork are a more experienced and settled team. They’ve been together for the last three years and they’ve been picking more or less the same team week in, week out for that time.”

Hayes contrasts that with the way it took virtually the entire summer to find Galway’s best working formula.

Twelve weeks separated the opening championship match against Laois and the final, yet Hayes built almost an entirely new team in that short period.

Tony Óg Regan started at midfield that day and ended the year as full-back. Shane Kavanagh lined out at full-back and finished at number six while Ollie Canning, Damien Joyce and Derek Hardiman all switched roles in the back line.

Fergal Healy, who finished the year anchoring the team at midfield beside David Tierney, didn’t even make the first 15 that day. Galway won by 11 points that day but Paudie Butler’s men felt they had let a famous win slip through their fingers.

All the improvement in the world can’t prepare players for their first All-Ireland final though. Even Hayes, with his pedigree and his experience, could only do so much.

“We had told them about the routine, about going out for the parade, the presentation to the President and things like that, but you just can’t impart the experience of being there in front of 81,000, the cauldron that is an All-Ireland final.

“They found it out for themselves yesterday and, in fairness to them, I thought they stood up well to it. That’s probably worth about ten championship games and hopefully they’ll be better prepared in the future.

“They’re a young team and they were in good form (Sunday) night as the night went on. Sometimes we get very down after things like that but, at the same time, they realised that they didn’t let anybody down. They brought Galway hurling forward a lot this year. They’ve left us in a very strong position where we can see Galway winning an All-Ireland where we couldn’t this time last year.

“That’s a huge step forward.”