Galway pull a rabbit from the hat - just in time too

The Galway County Board has set a soft target of October 10 for the appointment of Pádraic Joyce's successor. Former Monaghan boss Gabriel Bannigan is understood to be one of those interested in the role.

The lack of quality internal candidates to become the next Galway football manager should be a concern for the County Board. Pic: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

Every coronation needs a competitive race. As soon as Kevin Walsh stood down as Galway manager after five years in charge, his successor was obvious. Even still, they needed a contender for the throne.

Walsh walked away in September 2019 and Pádraic Joyce was ratified in mid-October. In between those events, the County Board needed to find a credible alternative, just in case. That precious commodity is sought by players, managers and officials alike: options.

Liam Kearns, who had previously managed Limerick and Tipperary before going on to manage Offaly, applied for the role and was interviewed. Thus the romantic notion took hold: a county icon installed at the helm to deliver the stated ambition of another All-Ireland. 

The spirit of 1998 galvanised the group to the extent that Pat Comer, the man behind the remarkable film A Year ‘Til Sunday, was again involved in the senior setup.

Dreams, of course, are there to be broken. Joyce walked away having undeniably advanced the county to a better place without delivering the ultimate goal. 

Comer left the panel after the 2022 season and the unseen footage he captured is reserved for the occasional fundraising dinner that taps the businesses of the west. In 2026, another documentary crew followed the team, although it looks like their market is a non-Irish audience.

These are troubled times for Galway. Naomh Anna Leitir Móir’s relegation at the hands of 2004 All-Ireland club winners Caltra capped a stunning decline for Gaeltacht clubs in recent years. An Spidéal, An Cheathrú Rua and Mícheál Breathnachs have all dropped down since 2020. St Michael’s, a club on the west side of the city, were relegated last year. 

And while An Spidéal are still in with a chance of bouncing back having reached the Galway IFC semi-final, the overall picture is worrying.

There are many reasons for that: rural depopulation and championship restructures and, in some cases, plain bad luck. There are proud people involved around those parts and the depth of their misfortune was apparent in Pearse Stadium on Sunday. 

Caltra, able to call on senior hurlers Pádraic and Cathal Mannion and with club heroes such as the Meehans around them, celebrated afterwards. Naomh Anna made for the dressing room in tears.

It comes at a crucial point for a county closing in on Joyce’s heir. It always had to be an outsider.

“In Galway at the moment, there is no successor as such in my eyes,” said Shane Walsh to Off The Ball last July. “That is just being truthful.”

How is that the case?

There were no nominations from the clubs, but a number of individuals expressed confidential interest. A source of greater concern, though, must be the absence of quality internal candidates. This is the third most successful county in All-Ireland history. 

There is a pedigree and flair, sometimes overplayed, that is widely known. How can it be that so few have stepped forward?

There has been hand-wringing within the county about this shortage: the lack of Galway coaches gaining experience and a board campaign to get more locals involved in academic courses with a view towards bringing them back into the county.

Maybe Galway did have a plan. It would seem from our relevations today that chairman Paul Bellew has met confidentially with Éamonn Fitzmaurice more than once and dangled the prospect of a run at al All-Ireland in fronbt of him. 

There are few scenarios that would turn Fitzmaurice’s head to return to the inter county fold after eight years and haul himself up to Galway a couple of times a week.

If Galway pull off the Fitzmaurice appointment, it’s a great coup but it doesn’t alter the essential fact and lack of raised hands internally, does it?

Put it this way: when Jack O’Connor eventually steps aside, there will be no shortage of credible options, including Kieran Donaghy, Tomás Ó Sé or James Costello. 

O’Connor faced a strong rival when he returned for a third time, with Stephen Stack among a group that included Donie Buckley, Séamus Moynihan, Dara Ó Cinnéide, Mickey Ned O’Sullivan and Joe O’Connor.

As soon as attention turned to Dessie Farrell’s successor, Ger Brennan was linked, as were Mick Bohan, Pat Gilroy, Jason Sherlock and Declan Darcy. There was no mapped-out strategy behind Mayo’s push to filter Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle, Andy Moran or Kevin McLoughlin into management. It came from within.

Self-drive and a low tolerance for mediocrity are vital components in elite sport. There should be embarrassment at the fact that Galway football have won just two All-Ireland titles in the last 60 years and a controlled anger at accepting it. There is a power in that internal dissatisfaction; it can be harnessed.

Defending county champions Maigh Cuilinn may get whispered mutterings for fielding players from Cavan, Leitrim, Offaly, Antrim and Donegal, but what that club has developed and built over the past decade is extraordinary. It is driven by people within the parish who refuse to stand still. That drive flows from their longstanding stalwarts downwards, a culture that the late Paul Clancy played a pivotal role in fostering. 

Whether it be facilities, management structures or the countless other elements that power a team to the summit, they find a means to evolve and get things done. 

When Seán Kelly pulled his hamstring leaping over a puddle on their waterlogged second pitch a number of years ago, there were immediate moves to fix the surface so that such mishaps don’t happen again. 

Rather than resenting them, there is a chance to learn from them.

No matter who succeeds Joyce, Galway need to take something from his competitive nature. No empire was ever built by being passive.