WEXFORD FOOTBALL BOSS Paul Galvin has responded to rumours of discord, following some personnel changes in the squad at the outset of the season.
It was reported last month that Galvin was in danger of facing a backlash from the team after removing some experienced players from the panel.
Midfielder Daithí Waters and last year’s captain Michael Furlong were apparently among those who were cut from the squad, according to the Irish Independent. Kevin O’Grady and Tiernan Rossiter are believed to have left the panel in solidarity with those who were dropped.
Galvin, who was appointed as manager last September, says he thought the reporting of the situation was “disappointing” and clarified some of the details regarding his decisions as Wexford manager.
“Some of this was out of my hands,” the four-time All-Ireland winner told OTBAM. “Two players departed of their own accord that were on the fringes of things maybe. They left and they created a bit of noise maybe.
“I made a few decisions on two players that had been there for a while that I respected and had honest conversations with. Really, I never closed the door as such on those players.
“It’s not part of my brief or my role to close doors on anybody down in Wexford. I think it is part of my brief to open doors and to give guys opportunities. So, I made a decision on a couple of players. A couple of other players decided to leave and [it] created a bit of a ruckus down there.”
Remarking on his thoughts about the departures of those players, Galvin added:
“I thought it cast a bit of a poor reflection on everybody, which was disappointing for the work we’ve all been doing. The guys that are in there so far have been really committed.
Two guys left kind of by the back door. I had heard about it before they actually told me about it which was a disappointment. It created all this noise which I think was a pity.”
Wexford concluded their O’Byrne Cup campaign with a defeat to Offaly earlier this month, and will face Antrim in their Divison 4 opener on Sunday, 26 January.
The Model County finished fifth in the bottom tier division last year.
Galvin says there’s plenty of interest among club players in Wexford who are eager to break into the inter-county squad as the season progresses.
When asked about the added scrutiny that comes with being a high-profile former player taking over as manager, Galvin said:
“I was surprised, and maybe I shouldn’t be, but I was surprised at kind of the instant attention. I thought the reporting on it was disappointing from the point of view that there was a group there doing lots of good work and lots of guys really keen to get into the squad.
Almost daily and weekly, there’s guys putting their hands up from various clubs and their managers are saying ‘will you have a look?’ [They] really want to come in, but then it becomes about two guys who didn’t want to be there, and whose attitudes told me as much anyway.
“But that’s the way of it and you have to adapt to it. The thing needed a shake-up, I’ve looked at years of footage. People probably thought I came down and made rash decisions. I didn’t, I based my decisions on years of championship games, National League games, county championship and the training I was seeing in front of my eyes.”
Galvin reiterated his position on operating an open door policy in the Wexford panel, but added that relations with some of the departed players could be difficult to repair should they look to make a return to the fold.
“Probably my gut was telling me about one or two of the guys who left, and I didn’t follow my gut on that. I waited and waited, and the boys eventually kind of pushed the button. They made it difficult for everybody.
“Like I said, I didn’t close doors but the boys’ actions and all the noise around it probably closed doors in a manner where it would be difficult to open them again.”
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Loughnane is a clown. He thinks Galway are better than what they are. Kilkenny are just pure savages and will more than likely win another all Ireland
You have to match them for work rate, general physicality and some sneaky pulling and dragging, haven’t a hope otherwise
An article about Ollie Canning Galway hurling and Loughnane and you’ve to get your usual dig at “sneaky” Kilkenny
You’ll find I was responding to a comment on the Kilkenny game
The difference is Loughnane has a couple of Celtic crosses in his back pocket, what has Ollie?
To be fair Ollie has enough medals in his back pocket. All Ireland minor, U21 not to mention four club All Irelands.
As a manager
There are many in limerick, Waterford, Galway and Clare with underage titles, how many have the Celtic cross holy Grail tho?
Even less as a manager
A stop you clown, Loughnane has no all Ireland , two national leagues, when did you see him win an all Ireland ? My little fingies would be wore out typing what Ollie has won, so get your facts straight before you wade into that pathetic attention seeking nobody’s defence…
For managing not playing, I’d be more inclined to listen to what Ollie says Ger feels the need to be controversial to keep himself at the frontline of punditry, and in fairness to Ollie he was decent as well I’m sure you’ll agree
Ollie was class and has prob been more effective than his starry younger bro is turning out. Still doesn’t change that in terms of winning senior all Ireland’s Ger has walked the walk on the biggest stage of all which is what we’re talking about. Of course Ger is being outspoken and controversial, that’s the media game, I certainly find him more interesting to listen to than Ollie
Best corner back of the last 20 or so years & 3 club All Ireland’s that’s what. It’s not his fault he hasn’t won an All Ireland with the county, just like it’s not Ciarán McDonald’s fault he hasn’t either. Doesn’t make them any less as players
Doesn’t diminish the success loughnane had with a county that hadn’t won it in well over half a century, whatever way you cut it you can’t take that away from him. Both Ollie and Galway have had a lot of success at all levels, except the ultimate one that counts and its not like Ollie was playing for Laois
At the risk of repeating myself, Loughnane, has no all Ireland in his sweaty little paws, how hard is that to understand , none . Nil, zero…
How many all Ireland’s has Cody won with Kilkenny so?
Cody is a genius powerhouse for masterminding all Ireland’s but no other manager has won all Ireland’s?
When did he win an All Ireland?
He couldn’t even win Munster and it wasn’t as if he hadn’t enough opportunities.
He choked about 12 times and blamed Biddy from Glenroe or something like that.
This Cody obsession is really getting to you isn’t it, I’d reckon though he’d never say he’s won more AIs than the ones he won on the actual field of play, which is more than the ones you reckon ger has
An Beal Bocht. To answer your question, Brian Cody has 1 minor, 2 U21, 3 senior and 2 club all Ireland’s. He also has 2 national league medals and 2 all stars. If you asked him what he’d won he’d focus on that and not the 11 all Ireland’s as manager. I’d say he sickens your hole
Wasn’t canning on that galway team that loughnane would have been involved with
Ya, the famous ” I’ll win an all Ireland in two years ” foot in mouth episode, then trained them for the Galway plate , enough said .
Thought he was one of the portumna players that walked out in Loughnane’s first year because of some club level county championship drama
Ollie wasn’t playing so he would hardly be taking it personal and surely to Christ a man who played with his county for many years and with distinction is allowed to comment on what’s said
No-one said he can’t comment, doesn’t mean he will always be right or that everyone has to agree with it
Cody needs to retire and give the rest of us a chance.
Using terms like ‘gutless’ is bad form I think, I don’t think you have to stoop to words like that to describe any team
21 and 19 years since Loughnane won those titles as manager, and he’s achieved nothing in the game sine then. I for one find it hard to take him seriously as a pundit. He’s a bit like Dunphy with the soccer: was fairly on the ball once upon a time, and still occasionally entertaining, but mainly just a grump with outdated axes to grind.
So you’re saying the Galway players don’t deserve criticism?
Of course they can be criticised. Fair criticism. Wrong tactics. Poor performances ect ect… did he call Dublin players gutless after Killkenny gave them a trimming? Or said it about any other team that have lost to a Cody team in the last decade? And his comments about Micheal Donohoe were bordering on the ridiculous. Not every manager needs to act like Davy Fitz or Cody, Jim Galvin for Dublin being a prime example.
Am not saying the galway players don’t deserve some criticism or questioning. Just saying Loughnane can be a bit of a looper on how he goes about it, with them or any other team.
It’s the media, you’re trying to sell copy, Ollie is getting paid well by Sky isn’t he so he serves him also to get involved
When Loughnane took over Galway he demanded that no one else run against him. Says it all about his arrogance. Galway are bad but the Galway GAA community weren’t too gutless a few years ago when they rallied around him with his illness.
Of course he’s got some arrogance, some of the most successful players and managers exude a certain arrogance
I think he is a clown but he is a GAA man and I’d rally around him again if he got sick.
Are you seriously saying Loughnane’s couple of All Ireland’s as a manager standing on the sideline is better that Ollie Cannings three Club All Ireland’s won on the field??? And as a result puts him in a better position to comment on Galway hurling…
Looks like Ollie can’t take much to criticism.
He’s right tho. Players aren’t gutless Kilkenny are simply Kilkenny. Anyone will have a job to beat them. They dismantled dublin in a more ruthless fashion then Galway. The problem is teams trying to match the physicality of Kilkenny. You can’t therefore match the work rate but open the game up. The only team capable of this is tipp
I don’t know where people get this idea that tipp are the only ones who can beat kilkenny. Over the last 15 years tipp and kilkenny have met 10 times in championship hurling tipp have won 2 and drawn 1. Thats a win rate of 1 in 5. Over the same period galway have met kilkenny 16 times winning 4 and drawing 2 thats a win rate of 1 in 4.
Good stats fair enough. But I still believe tipp have the talent to do it but not sure bout the mind set. Clare definitely do but I think they are being held back with tactics
Top won in 2010, when was their other win over Cody?
91′ but cody wasn’t over kilkenny then.
So some people still tearing into the hurlers for getting rid of Cunningham, surely if these ‘professionals’ where doing their job properly they would have known the hurlers wanted Cunningham gone long before last years All-Ireland final. No one can expect any team to automatically become better with a change of management, these things take time and thats proven in every sport. Its very unfair on this group of lads who give up their summer for their county and supporters, to have people still giving out about them saying to forget about this Galway team because they have no guts? And saying they should have a good hard look at themselves, surely the people who should be having a good hard look at themselves are the people still giving out about a bunch of amateur sports people, who had to get up this morning to go to work after a hard day out in Croke Park. From galway gaa instagram
The same people that will be paying 30 euros to get into the next Galway game is it ? Fact of matter is that when cunningham last gave a team talk your ‘team’ were comfortably ahead in an all Ireland final , paint it anyway you want after that
What county are you from so micheal??
Clare according to his account.
Figures
I’d agree Conor up to a point, I supported the player’s decision and influence in relation to Cunningham last year, the players are the ones making the sacrifices 3 or 4 nights a week without anything in return and they’re best placed to judge their manager, however I think also they must take some responsibility for Sunday as a performance. They need to take it on the chin, stick it on the dressing room door the next day and prove the detractors otherwise
From clare conor and do a good bit of work around derry brien , abbey, Portumna with a lot of Galway lads ! Gerry mc is still probably my favourite player of all time , would absolutely love to see Galway do well
An beal bocht you clearly have a grudge with Galway and to call Joe Canning starry eyed is ridiculous, he is one of the finest hurlers any generation has produced, he can’t do all of the work all of the time, you need a team behind you. Kilkenny have any amount of support players , Galway don’t have them unfortunately.
This Galway team has been gutless for a long long time
Whatever people think of loughnane is their own business but he is dead right in this instance as are you James ! Players hanging around there a while now and blaming everyone and thing but themselves
Getting rid of cunningham was the right decision I’m from galway and a lot of people here agree. You do not not know what has been happening behind the scenes in galway so you are in no place no comment
If losing to KK makes a team gutless then the Irish are gutless
@conor I agree Conor 75% of the county agreed with the players. Some of the stuff I heard is laughable. They got there in spite of him. I think we are three players short of an all Ireland to be honest. And a gutless team would say nothing and let a cunningham manage. They pur their heads on the chopping block. Kilkenny have beaten us by 7 points last three times because thats prob how mych better they are then us
Yep bang on, however I don’t think Kilkenny are unbeatable as shown in the first half, plus I think Johnny Glynn was a huge loss to that team, big Joe needs to be dropped I fear tho
Were absolutely acing it in the first half of the final last year and then went out in the second half and crumbled.Missed 1-6 in the last 10mins of the game too………that’s not being 3 players short of an all Ireland.Its called throwing it away! Yee are good enough!!, its just the players haven’t been able to finish the job after being in prime position to kick on and win…….and I’m a Kilkenny fan
But even if you think the players were right to blame and sack Cunningham doesn’t change the fact that it was disgraceful and fairly laughable really after he doing a great job.And the figure of 75% also seems fairly laughable
He didn’t do a good job that’s the point the final wasn’t his fault but others games were and the game was over in the last 10 mins of the game had we taken them scores kilkenny would have still finished the game off that’s why there so good
Irin 75% isn’t that far fetched trust me. The whole place wanted him lynched after the Waterford league match. As this discussion goes on im starting to think itll be a galway kilkenny final. Absolutely no idea why
Goway will ya…….Kilkenny were going full throttle as it was in the last 10mins anyway.If the players took their scores then you could blame the manager.What can Cunningham and the backroom team do if players are missing easy scores in the most important 10mins of the entire championship! Saying he didn’t do a good job is just a pure joke
What part of the final wasn’t his fault do you not understand. When canning scored. The goal from a free at the end kilkenny instantly went and got 3 points. The game was over 20 minutes into the second half
It would not have been over if the players didnt miss the handy scores…….your just being stubborn and not seeing that! It shouldn’t have been over anyway coz the players collapsed in that second half.Kilkenny did yes,that’s not relavent to how Galway’s players folded.Cody can’t influence players on the pitch in the dying minutes on an all ireland.The players either step up or they dont and the Galway lads didn’t.There’s no arguing in that!
I don’t know what game you were watching kilkenny were 7 points up and had totally dominated the second half. There backs cleaned our forwards out and everytime we managed to get a score kilkenny replied with 2 the damage had already been done in the last 10 mins and it was just a matter of how much kilkenny would win by.
Irin the biggest problem in Galway is not gutless or this club rivalry bullcrap I do keep hearing, it is reffing of matches . Refs pull the slightest of challenges, I watched a few Galway backs coming out of a few hard challenges and then not knowing what to do with the ball , they were like new born calves trying to walk. People keep saying that Kilkenny play on the edge, well I have no problem with that, the game has always been like that for as long as I can remember.
Do you ever wonder how Galway got to the final.How they played so so well in the first half.How they trashed the living daylights out of us in 2012.How they played unbelievable in the semi final Vs Tipp.I’m not saying they are gutless at all,I’m not like that.I respect that they are out there to do their best and they work very hard all year long.But you can’t just kick the can down the road like this.Your right with your point about kilkennys answer to scores……that tells you how bad they played in the second half.Don’t shift the blame elsewhere so,coz I don’t know how it wasn’t the players fault.
Yeah I agree the KK team gets stuck in and play strong stuff but 2012 Leinster final shows that Galway’s are well able for Kilkenny.I don’t have a clue about the refs but you may very well be right
Against tipp in the semi final padraig mannion had a bad game on seamus callanan. Callanan was clearly the only threat tipp had and he carried them through. Cunningham refused to take mannion of callanan until late in the game and it nearly cost us the match. We were lucky to scrape through in the end in a game we should won easily
Galway should have won the all ireland in the drawn game in 2012 but Henry came on brought kilkenny back into it. That was 4 years ago and the team is different now
I really don’t understand the way you think.It begs belief really.Yes Henry single handedly saved us in 2012 but EVERYONE down here says that yee should have putting us away in that game.Seamus was unmarkable that day and it was one of the greatest individual displays in Croker for the last 15years at least so Hanbury and Cunningham should be excused as it was mission impossible.No one could mark him for crying out loud.Galway played brilliant that day so I don’t know how you could give out like
Sorry…..mannion for hanbury
Hanbury marked callanan out of it in the last 7 or 8 minutes mannion just had a bad game and it was unfair to leave him on callanan
I know galway played well but we should have won that game handy only for cunningham would not change the same thing happened in 2014 and we lost
Christ be to god will ya give Cunningham a break will ya.He was to blame for all of Galway’s downfalls,it was his fault that Galway didn’t put the foot down and close out the game in 2012,he didn’t do any good all year but it was his fault that the players didn’t perform and push the game beyond rescue from us cats.It was his fault that Galway won the Tipp game.I can understand your anger as to why they won the game.It was his fault also that they didn’t win last years all Ireland too.When the game was in the melting pot and when the leaders had to step up and be the hero’s…….it was Cunningham’s fault that these players didn’t perform when they were needed.These players needed to be protected and mollycoddled and never take the blame for their own performances.Its not good players and class that wins you an all Ireland……its completely a good manager.The players on the pitch are only a minor factor really.I suppose when they were outscored 1-16 to 0-09 in the 2nd half the other day it was the waterman’s fault! The ‘leaders’ that got rid of Cunningham certainly aren’t leaders when they are badly needed on the pitch. Don’t bother replying coz your off your head talking about the manager and can’t see the bigger picture
When things needed to be changed he would not make big decisions. Cody gambled and made two substitutions at half time that won kilkenny the game. Cunningham was not making big decisions he just left things the way they were. The players deserve some of the blame as well but when you are playing against the greatest ever team to ever play hurling you are going to need a lot of goals and we didn’t get them
Conor, leave her off, she sounds like someone who never challenged authority or orthodoxy once in her life
I have never challenged authority but I have 6 all Ireland medals.3 in athletics and 3 in camogie.I do know when players don’t preform and then point the finger elsewhere though.Why would I challenge authority or orthodoxy anyway……that’s pure stupid!
Spot on beal bocht haha
Don’t mind them Irin. Despite change in management Galway players have failed to deliver. Relegation and carbon-copy of final last year. Nobody but themselves to blame now – wonder if they and Coleman here will still be blaming cunningham in a few years. Sad state of affairs for Galway hurling but the responsibility lies squarely on their shoulders now – no shifting blame any more.
Why do people give galway so much abuse for losing to kilkenny. When they did the same to Waterford and Dublin no one said anything. Like said above galway are 3 players short of winning an all ireland. Cunningham brought us as far as he could but if we wanted an all ireland we needed to give someone else a go as it clearly hasn’t worked for the last 4 years. The only team who cares about the league is Waterford cause they won’t win anything else galway, kilkenny and tipperary have there eyes on the bigger prize.
Coleman will ya stop whinging.Your players fell flat on their backsides last year and they took the cowards way out.Your dead right about getting a new manager alright hahahahah,its working a treat!
Can’t wait until Cody leaves kilkenny. Kilkenny people don’t realise how lucky they are. When Cody leaves kilkenny are going to fall apart like man united did and we’ll see what all the cocky kilkenny supporters have to say then
Hahahahah,as long yee keep sulking and blaming everyone but the players then we won’t be worried about yee.Not Kilkennys fault that they produce the best hurlers and work the hardest to win these titles.Try have a nice day Coleman!
At least we compete in more than one sport. What was the score in kilkenny minor football match??
Hahahahahahahah I couldn’t give a dam about that.As long as we keep beating seven shades out of yee then we will be nice and content!
Will ya ever just leave me alone are you actually still going on about this 5 days later get a life irin
Your the hopeless fanatic that keeps clogging up my emails so why bother point the finger ya tit
@coleman – like the players you are still blaming the mangaer and that puts you in the major minority (75% me a**). Players threw it away in Final, and again on Sunday – absolute carbon copy! – and your still bringing up cunningham :) let it go -will ya. Players know what’s on the line and it’s getting tiresome deflecting blame on manager – they are sufficient motivated (definitely not gutless) to prove themselves right and had great belief in themselves – it’s just not working out – is it? Relegation? Carbon copy Kilkenny reaction?? It’s not looking good for their ‘justified coup’ is it??
Galway team need leaders – it’s not Canning – great skill but no leadership. Time is ticking for those leaders that led to this show themselves on the field.