Sports Manager of the Year Michéal Donoghue: Galway primed to back up magical year

September is long gone now. The last strains of ‘The West’s Awake’ have petered out on the cold winter winds as a New Year clears its throat but still the hurlers from Galway continue to rack up the prizes.

Michéal Donoghue wasn’t expecting this one, although it will leave the most pleasant of aftertastes when he finally sits down and digests a whirlwind year: Philips Lighting Sports Manager of the Year for 2017. What’s not to like?

“Genuinely a shock, just with the calibre of people there,” he said yesterday after being given the nod. “The likes of Aidan O’Brien, Jim Gavin and John Caulfield. Shocked when the name was called out, but privileged to get the award.”