Rory Gallagher: Crazy, rebellious, troublemaker, whatever you call him, you can’t ignore him

Rory Gallagher has every player clear on their role and the team’s offensive and defensive principles.

19 June 2021; Derry manager Rory Gallagher before the Allianz Football League Division 3 Final match between Derry and Offaly at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

NAMES might mean a lot to Rory Gallagher but the size of them does not.

In Donegal the players still talk about how he immediately commanded their respect. On a dirty night the Tuesday after their second McKenna Cup game, they arrived in Castlefin to find a new selector laying out cones and footballs. Some of the veterans would have recognised him from his days playing with Fermanagh and recently winning an All-Ireland with St Gall’s, but most didn’t know who was in their midst. What bowled them over was that he knew every one of them. Every single player on that senior panel, and on the U21s training alongside them, he was able to refer to by name. He literally had them at hello.