Eamon O'Shea departs Galway set-up as Barry O'Brien takes up strength and conditioning role

Eamon O’Shea, who is set to step back from his Galway role, at an Irish Examiner subscriber event before this year's All-Ireland hurling final. Picture Chani Anderson.

Two-time All-Ireland SHC winning coach Eamon O’Shea won’t be part of Micheál Donoghue’s Galway set-up for the upcoming season.

O’Shea’s departure is one of a number of changes in Donoghue’s backroom team for 2026.

Connacht Rugby senior athletic performance coach Barry O’Brien is set to take over the strength and conditioning brief from former Ireland rugby international Jonny O’Connor.

Galway-based O’Shea, who coached Tipperary in their 2010 and ’19 All-Ireland successes, had also been part of Henry Shefflin’s Galway management team in 2024. Donoghue had previously been an analyst for O’Shea when he was Tipperary manager between 2013 and ’15.

O’Connor had been Galway’s lead athletic development coach since the end of 2023 when he replaced Lukasz Kirszenstein, who then joined the Clare group.

Galway reached this year’s Leinster final where they lost to Kilkenny before they were knocked out of the championship by Tipperary in an All-Ireland quarter-final.

Meanwhile, All-Ireland SFC runners-up Donegal are joining winners Kerry in getting their team holiday out of the way early. Jim McGuinness’s men will enjoy a trip to Mexico where Kerry will also be going following their first stop in Nashville later this month.

Kerry had originally looked at visiting Puerto Rico but will go to Cancun for the second part of their trip before returning in early November. Both Donegal and Kerry along with the hurling finalists Tipperary and Cork receive €150,000 towards their holiday from the GAA.

Elsewhere, former Monaghan defenders Darren Hughes and Ryan Wylie are part of the county’s new U20 and minor management set-ups respectively.

Hughes, who announced his retirement from inter-county football last month, joins new U20 boss Paul O’Connor and apart from Hughes his fellow assistants include Neil McAdam and Gerry Connolly.

Wylie is part of Joe Boyle’s management group, which also includes Colin Malone and Paddy Kieran. The Ballybay Pearse Brothers man stepped away from the inter-county game prior to the 2023 season.

Finally, the GAA have confirmed rule changes voted in at Special Congress on Saturday will be made permanent from January 1. As things stands, a jersey pull denying a goalscoring opportunity is not a black card offence but if passed it will come into operation in the new year and not for the closing stages of the county championships and next month’s provincial club competitions.

It is also proposed that an opponent deflecting a two-point attempt over the bar no longer reduces the value of the score. If supported, that will also come into play in 2026.