Crisis over as Hayes reappointed

THE Galway senior hurlers have expressed relief that the county's management debacle has been resolved.

The County Hurling board reappointed Conor Hayes for another 12 months with the Kiltormer clubman ratified on Monday night.

That meeting followed the embarrassing situation last week when former minor manager Mattie Murphy failed to gain a majority vote from delegates.

Ollie Canning, this year's captain, now wants the focus back on hurling.

"We wanted it sorted out as soon as possible. A lot of other teams are back into doing work in the gym and, from our point of view, we felt it was taking a long time to have a decision on the manager taken," he said.

"My feeling is that two years is not long enough to be in charge. You can see that in counties like Kilkenny and Tipperary, who have managements in place for a longer time than that."

Canning added that players have been training during the impasse.

"I don't know what Conor's plans are, but a number of the players got together and we felt it was time for us to get back and do a bit of work in the gym. At this stage, fellows are old enough and experienced enough to know what they should be doing."

Looking ahead to next year, Canning says the new system should suit them better.

At least they will be guaranteed three games before they can qualify for the All-Ireland quarter-final.

"We got caught this year. We won the League and after that we started our preparations for the championship. We drew Down and then we were up against Kilkenny.

"We didn't know what to expect, but as it turned out they ran us off our feet.

"They were hopping after having lost the Leinster semi-final, but that was no excuse for us playing the way we did. I would not be one to make an excuse," he added.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Limerick senior football board, Owen Hayes, delivered a stark message to delegates at this week's convention.

"We constantly keep hearing how other counties would love to see us winning an All-Ireland in hurling or football ... don't believe a word of it, we simply must go out and do it for ourselves."

He asked delegates to ponder what was greater, a love of winning or a hatred of losing.

Limerick, said Hayes, was a great sporting county with people's interest varying from greyhounds to rugby.

"One had to admire the other organisations for the work they do in trying to keep our youths on the straight and narrow.

"We have a huge advantage in that our units are based in every parish in the county."

He added it was time Limerick showed they were ready to succeed.

There was just one contest, with John Ryan (outgoing) defeating Ben Mullane by 72-37 for the PRO post.

Meanwhile, the Limerick Co board convention will be held on Monday, December 6, with Denis Holmes and Mick O'Sullivan contesting the position as chairman, following the decision by Pat Fitzgerald to stand down after two years.