Galway ready for senior glory
With the U21 and minor titles landed in the past week, Mullen believes Galway will win the Liam MacCarthy Cup in the coming seasons.
And he hopes that the recent successes will whet the appetite for senior glory amongst the supporters, and the county board.
"As we crossed the border between Clare and Galway, you could see the bonfires blazing all the way to Gort. The streets of the town were jammed packed with well wishers, and it was a sight to behold," said Mullen.
"It was the same when we hit my home place Ardrahan and the captain Kenneth Burke's club St Thomas. The excitement and cheering brought home to me just how much the people of Galway love their hurling, and a winning team in particular. I shudder to think what the turnout would have been like had the seniors beaten Cork.
"With the minor All-Ireland title also won for the second year in a row, the biggest problem the county faces now is marrying all that talent into a winning senior team. Cork and Kilkenny seem to be able to do it and they wouldn't have had as much under age success as we've had in the last six years.
"I would certainly like to know how it's done because we have a great crop of young hurlers now."
But he sounded a word of warning.
"We need to take it on to the next level. It would be a tragedy to let it all go to waste."
Mullen had already coached two All-Ireland winning teams intermediate and Railway Cup, but he was desperate for U21 glory.
"I had tremendous faith in this U21 group of players. Three years ago I was involved with the intermediate team which lost an All-Ireland final to Cork and I swore to the players then that we'd be back to win it and we did, the following year.
"Likewise in the dressing room in Portlaoise after last year's U21 semi-final defeat by Kilkenny I said the same thing, and true to my word we did it last Sunday. It's a fabulous feeling to be part of an All-Ireland success.
"Prior to going out on Sunday, my parting words to the players were: 'believe in your own ability, support and encourage each other'. We had played the seniors in the lead-up to their final and scored 1-21 off them, so there was no reason to fear Kilkenny. Respect them, yes, but we had nothing to be afraid of.
"Looking back on Sunday's final, there were times in the game when I couldn't see us winning. We were struggling in lots of areas, but the selectors threw caution to the wind, made a couple of important switches and more importantly brought on a couple of subs, and all combined to make the difference.
"As I saw it the game turned on the great long range point David Collins struck. Cathal Dervan grabbed a second and when we were awarded that close-in free just on full time for the equalising point, I'd have gladly settled for a replay.
"I was very much afraid when Kerril Wade lined up to take the free that he would go for the goal as he's more than capable of slotting it home, but he looked over towards the sideline and I pointed up to take his point which he duly did.
"Fortunately for us the game went on for a few minutes more and if there was any player you would have wanted to have had the sliotar in his hand in front of goal in a tight match it was Kerril Wade and he popped over the winner to send us all into raptures."
Kilkenny will point to the poor return they got from some of their more experienced players like Cha Fitzpatrick and Richie Power as to the reason why they failed to hang on, but the Galway coach preferred to think his defence did their job well.
"I would give a lot of credit to our backs when Kilkenny had the upper hand. They chased and harried their men at every opportunity and forced them to strike under pressure, resulting in a lot of wides.
"In Alan Gaynor we have a full back of great potential. He's the only player of the six defenders playing in his club position with us, all the others play in different positions. He has the makings of a great full back. He's a natural and they are hard to get."
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