Limerick hopeful Galvin will commit for another season

Limerick football manager John Brudair is hopeful that John Galvin will commit for another season of inter-county football.

But he stressed that the decision would rest entirely with the long-serving 34-year-old and that they would not be putting pressure on the versatile performer to commit.

Galvin, who moved clubs during the year from his native Croom to Cratloe in Co Clare where he lives, said he will make a decision in the coming weeks on his future.

He moved on a club transfer rather than a county one so is eligible to continue playing for Limerick. Brudair said that Galvin, who helped Cratloe win the Clare SFC title in a season when they also lifted the hurling title, said the club move made sense as he has been living there for years and that the transfer allows him continue play for Limerick if he wishes.

“The move doesn’t affect his status with the county team, he is closer to training where he is with Cratloe than he was with Croom. We would be very hopeful that John would get back in for us but only he knows the story and he will make his decision in the next few weeks. He is not confirmed yet and you couldn’t expect him to be, year on year.

“He is 34 now. He needs to weigh things up. It is a big commitment and he has been brilliant for Limerick in the last 15 years. We would just be hoping we could get another year out of him,” said the Limerick manager.

Brudair is heading into his second year in charge of Limerick and said they are really looking forward to a big league campaign which he hopes will set them up for the championship.

“Every year you go in you hope there is potential there. So far the attitude has been very good. We know we are in a very competitive league this year with Armagh down and Tipperary and Clare coming up.

“It is going to be extremely competitive in the league so we are going to have to be at it right from the start.

“In the league you just play the first three games and see where it takes you and then after that you reassess halfway through. Obviously you would love to be in the race for promotion. But we will judge that after a couple of games,” added Brudair.

He hasn’t chosen a captain for the season and is starting the year with a relatively clean bill of health, with Ian Ryan the only major absentee for the start of the campaign.

“Ian Ryan is after having a procedure on his ankle. That has been bothering him for the last three years so he just wanted to get that cleared up. The timeline for him is around mid-February,” added Brudair, whose team will start their year by hosting a McGrath Cup quarter-final against UCC.

The Limerick management hope to bring on several young players this year and Brudair is confident about the county’s prospects.

“We have taken the U-21s with us this year, they are all training with us and that is the mindset this year. We want to promote young talent coming through and we just have to because we don’t have a huge pool of resources.

“We can’t pick and choose people we have to make sure that they get the proper coaching and develop them year on year and it hasn’t happened in the last few years at U-21 level so we are going to have to take that on board as well this year,” he added.