AS GALWAY PREPARE for the All-Ireland football final this weekend, Kevin Walsh takes some satisfaction from their recent success and the importance of the journey to this point.
Walsh was manager before Pádraic Joyce, his two-time All-Ireland winning team-mate.
He stepped down after five years in charge in 2019, having coached several of the current panel.
“A lot of these players would have gone through our hands at the very, very start,” he says ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Armagh.
“The U20s obviously came after us, but I suppose a lot of guys came through from our own time. Maybe we got a bit of flak at the time for changing the style of football in Galway.
“You take a little bit of satisfaction, that that’s what it is and that’s what it has gone to, to a degree. Some of the players would have been very young when we were there, bar a few, Paul Conroy, for instance. [Cillian] McDaid was only starting out, [Robert] Finnerty was only starting to come through, but they got a little bit of what we were trying to do at the time.
“Any active part you have in helping Galway football is great.”
Walsh has since passed the baton to his former team-mate Joyce.
Much has been said about PJ‘s impact, but the Killannin man has a unique insight into his inner workings. As a manager, as a coach and as a player.
“Someone was asking me about the difference in the two managers come Sunday. I think one will be a bit more flamboyant, one will be stepping back a little bit.
“Sure lookit, we all know Pádraic for years and what he will bring is total confidence. He will love, and thrive on, these situations. He’ll also be his own man in what he wants to do and I’m sure he’s got that total picture in his head of what he’s going to do, even next Sunday.
“Pádraic won’t be lacking confidence in this, he will feel the team is very well prepared — and it’s looking like that on the pitch. I think it’s heading for the 10th game, which is a huge amount of games, unbeaten; have beaten the Leinster champions, the Ulster champions, the league winners, the league runners-up, the Division 2 league winners, and the Division 2 league runners-up are coming next. It’s a case of getting over that last line.
“Pádraic will be showing massive confidence with the players. I’m sure even three games ago there was no talk about not going on and winning the All-Ireland. I think they’ve learned the lessons of two years ago, they have more experience, he would have been mentioning that for the last number of games, winning an All-Ireland — not just beating Dublin or Donegal.”
At that, Walsh reflects on Galway’s potential learnings from the 2022 decider defeat to Kerry — the David Clifford v Shane Walsh final, as most remember it.
“I think when they look at it, obviously it was there for the taking,” Walsh says. “I suppose it’s getting 15 playing together is one of the biggest things that would happen.
“I think one thing that has happened from a Galway point of view is the bench seems to be stronger. When we look around the last 15 minutes in 2022, the bench wasn’t as strong as it is now and I don’t think they had a lot of impact coming off the bench.
“I suppose there was a transitional period going on at the time and I think there was a few players maybe for the midfield area in particular in that game could have livened it up a bit and would have made a difference but I think they are in a really good place for
that now.
“You’ve got Cein Darcy coming in there, Matthew Tierney is a bit older, Cillian McDaid who can play out there, John Maher has been a revelation this year. There is plenty of options on the bench and that is one of the biggest things.”
Walsh also hails the young guns who have broken through and their promise for the future.
When asked about other key players apart from big-name duo Shane Walsh and Damien Comer, the former manager points to McDaid, Tierney and Finnerty.
And then there’s Paul Conroy, who has soldiered for Galway for so long and overcome significant injury struggles along the way. He is now complemented by Maher, the pair forming a formidable partnership of late.
“It is the longevity for Paul, he had many reasons to step aside which he didn’t do.
“Hopefully he will get his rewards for that now.”
But Walsh knows it’s all about the collective effort.
“Some of the bigger guns that are more spoken about haven’t turned up at every game, but they’ve gotten over the line and that is down to everybody,” he says at one point.
And of course, the journey.
“All you can do as a manager is get a team to be consistently competing to win. All you can do is be in the arena to take something if it comes your way,” he concludes.
Now in their second summer as sponsor of the All-Ireland SFC, Allianz has been campaigning for children and young people to #StopTheDrop and remain involved in sport when transitioning from primary to secondary school.
