Kieran Fitzgerald fears Mayo will snare Stephen Rochford

Former Galway captain Kieran Fitzgerald fears Corofin will lose Stephen Rochford to his native Mayo after he guided the club to All-Ireland glory.

Fitzgerald admits it will be difficult to hold onto the Crossmolina man whose stock has risen since the comprehensive dismantling of Slaughtneil.

“He’s a cool customer,” said the defender of Rochford. “He doesn’t get too excited. We were lucky to get him. It was thanks to David Morris and Jimmy Sice that poached him.

“We were as prepared as I ever saw a team prepared. I have been involved with great managers, Peter Forde, John O’Mahony and those, but no team were as prepared for the final as we were.

“We knew Slaughtneil inside out. There was no stone left unturned. It was basically up to us to perform. They could do no more.

“I’d imagine Mayo will be looking for that guy back, sooner rather than later. Whether we can hold onto him now, I have my doubts, but he has been super for us and he owes us nothing.”

The victory was Fitzgerald’s first in Croke Park since the 2001 All-Ireland win over Meath. “I played two league finals against Kerry up here. I think I played a quarter-final against Cork, maybe eight times we lost since then. I love playing in Croke Park but it hasn’t been a happy hunting ground since 2001. But this is something special.”

Fitzgerald, who retired from inter-county football in 2011, can see some of his club-mates joining Micheál Lundy and Gary Sice in Kevin Walsh’s Galway panel in the coming weeks.

“I expect a lot of guys to make the move to inter-county but whether they actually get onto the 15 will be interesting to see. The likes of Liam Silke who is a really good man-marker, Ian Burke up front, the Farraghers, the two boys at midfield – Daithi Burke is an inter-county hurler as well, so he could go back to the hurling – but you have the likes of Ronan Steede and Ciarán McGrath I’d say Kevin Walsh is going to have a look at a lot of them.”