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.”

O’Brien had his backers and his son Joseph was another of the 12 monthly winners thanks to his Melbourne Cup success. So did Gavin given his achievement in illuminating the runway for the Dublin footballers to land a famous three-in-a-row. And Caulfield’s Cork City double made him a contender.

But Donoghue’s nomination needs little explanation. Or any defence.

A league title annexed from the unlikely duchy of Division 1B, a Leinster title harvested at the height of summer and a first All-Ireland hurling championship claimed for the ‘people of Galway’ since the dim and distant days of 1988.

Not a bad season’s work.

Mid-December can’t be the most accurate barometer of a champion team’s hunger for the year to come, but Donoghue has discerned enough of an appetite and a want in his men of late to be confident of a concerted push again in 2018.

The steady influx of successful minors and U21s through to the senior ranks never managed to propel Galway over September’s line in years gone, but the current manager sees that supply as crucial to the next step.

Only Cyril Donnellan, at 32 years of age, has decided to cash in his chips from the All-Ireland-winning panel although the path back towards a triumphant Eyre Square homecoming in nine months’ time is all the more arduous for its new familiarity.

Tipperary have consistently fallen short in that regard for over half a century, most recently this very year, but Donoghue believes motivation exists in abundance among Galway players and management team to back this up. “I’ve no doubt (that) we go in next year with a target on our back because we’ve won it. But what we developed over the last two seasons, we’re not going to deviate too much from it in terms of principles and standards we’ve set.”

Whatever O’Donoghue and his team go on to achieve, 2017 will be hard topped.

The import of Galway’s success was apparent in countless ways and moments, big and small, but none were more poignant than the scene captured by Inpho photographer Morgan Treacy in Ballinasloe.

The shot of Donoghue embracing his father Miko as the older man held and eyed the Liam MacCarthy went viral when shared online and the Galway manager has been staggered by the ripple effect from it as the days have given way to weeks and months.

“It’s been unbelievable. Look, I got caught with the cameras straight after the event. I’ve said many a time I probably would have preferred a more personal environment, but the reaction to it has been unbelievable.

“No matter where we have gone — Boston, London, no matter where I go — people want to talk about it. The fact he has dementia has prompted people to come up and talk about it because they also have a family member with dementia.

“That’s been so special about it. It was a poignant moment. A great picture. One to treasure. We have a coach company back home and Dad drove the team coach back in 1987 and ’88 and played a huge part in my own career … It was just great to see him.”