McIntyre set to write new chapter

GER LOUGHNANE and John McIntyre are two men who know a thing or two about making headlines.

The Clare man has been generating plenty of copy since the last decade but McIntyre’s expertise is more literal.

With his lengthy hurling CV and day job as sports editor of the Connacht Tribune, the Tipperary man has an intimate knowledge of how to generate a buzz — and how to avoid it — and it was the latter route he chose on his appointment as Galway manager last November.

Loughnane had famously fashioned a rod for his back on his own ascension to the throne, declaring that he would be a failure if the Liam MacCarthy wasn’t crossing the Shannon within two years.

McIntyre’s opening gambit was far more reserved. Gone was the hyperbole. Instead, the new man talked about mobilising the squad and doing the Galway jersey proud.

“Expectations have actually dropped in Galway,” says McIntyre.

“There is more realism among the supporters than in the past. Ger set targets for himself and the team. It raised public expectations and there was a perception in Galway that if Ger Loughnane couldn’t win an All-Ireland with Galway then no-one could.

“He had done it with Clare. He had led the Banner out of the hurling wilderness. It was a magnificent achievement. Regardless of what happened in Galway, that will always be his legacy to hurling.

“Whether people like Ger Loughnane or not, he has been good for the game.”

His error in Galway, according to McIntyre, was in attempting to replicate the tactics which had served him so well in Clare. His “commando” training, mind games and bold statements travelled about as well as Irish stout.

It is now up to the new management to put their own stamp on things, which they did within a month of their appointment when ten players – including men like Alan Kerins, Eugene Cloonan and Kevin Hayes — were released from the panel. Some players, McIntyre accepts, have had their confidence dented by the litany of disappointing seasons but he adds that it is up to the panel to take ownership of their own hurling fortunes.

They face Kilkenny tomorrow on the back of a first Walsh Cup campaign before they immerse themselves in Leinster again this summer when they make their historic bow in the eastern provincial championship.

“For the first time the players believe they are starting off on a level playing field. I feel it is a war zone and if Galway are not in battle mode they could be in for a rude awakening. Offaly, Dublin and Wexford don’t want us there. I understand that emotion. They are being asked to solve Galway’s geographical hurling isolation.

“We are being positive about it. We are hoping it will ignite the Leinster Championship, especially with Anthony Daly getting involved with Dublin. Offaly and Wexford made significant progress last summer. Galway in the opposite corner will serve to motivate them.”

Leinster should certainly be good for Galway. Whether McIntyre is too remains to be seen but it is easy to see why he was chosen as the man to pick up the baton.

He was already ensconced in Galway by the time his career at centre-back with Tipperary came to an end and he has racked up a list of glowing references from clubs around the county. The main beef people seem to have with his appointment is his profession.

“There is more than hurling in the Connacht Tribune, for a start. Secondly, I don’t think any of my colleagues would stand for it. There is a belief, rightly or wrongly, that I am going to be censoring what is appearing in the Connacht Tribune.

“I jokingly passed the remark at a recent function that I had my first headline prepared because I write all the headlines and do the layout. If Galway lose the first week the headline will be ‘Unlucky Galway get no breaks’. I won’t allow it to become an issue but I can’t stop people from having a perception of how it will operate ... I have to try and divorce myself when I am sports editor. Being Galway manager is a different role.”