Cunningham gets Galway seal of approval

ANTHONY CUNNINGHAM will tonight be named the new Galway senior hurling manager.

The 46-year-old will be appointed to take charge of the Tribesmen for the next three seasons.

Cunningham, who guided Galway to the All-Ireland U21 title this season, will be joined by other members of his management team from that success, former All Star Tom Helebert and Mattie Kenny.

The Galway hurling board will be held at the Raheen Woods Hotel in Athenry this evening when delegates will be asked to ratify Cunningham’s appointment.

The St Thomas clubman was the choice of the seven-man committee, with Cunningham getting the nod ahead of Portumna boss Johnny Kelly and former Clarinbridge manager Micheal Donoghue.

Cunningham will be given a three year term with a review scheduled at the end of the second year and he will be asked to adopt an overall strategy for Galway hurling, from underage through to senior.

Cunningham had a spell in charge of the Roscommon hurlers before turning his attention to football management where he has enjoyed enormous success with St Brigid’s of Roscommon and more recently with Garrycastle in Westmeath, even though he has no background in football as his home club St Thomas in the Kilchreest and Castledaly area of south Co Galway is solely a hurling club.

He led Garrycastle to their third successive county title recently and they will take on Longford Slashers on November 20 as they aim to go one better than two years when they were pipped in the final by Portlaoise in their bid to become the first Westmeath side to win the Leinster senior club title.

Cunningham, who captained Galway to their first All-Ireland minor title in 1983, also skippered them to win the U21 crown in 1986.

The only other Galway man to lead Galway to a brace of All-Ireland titles is Conor Hayes, who captained the victorious senior teams in 1987 and 88 which featured Cunningham at corner-forward.

Hayes was the last Galway native to manage the Tribesmen, having been replaced after the 2006 championship by former Clare boss Ger Loughnane before ex-Tipperary defender John McIntyre took charge three seasons ago.