GALWAY HURLING MANAGER Henry Shefflin has stepped down from the role, becoming the second county manager to walk away within 24 hours following Davy Fitzgerald’s departure from Waterford.
Speculation surrounded Shefflin’s future this year after they failed to get out of the Leinster round-robin championship this year, and now the Ballyhale man has called an end to his three-year term in charge of the Tribesmen.
They opened brightly with a win over Carlow and a draw with Kilkenny, but a shock defeat to Wexford in round three followed by a loss to Dublin in the final round saw them eliminated.
Last year they came achingly close to the provincial title, leading against Kilkenny in the dying seconds before Cats sub Cillian Buckley hit a goal in the final moments.
A statement from Galway GAA confirmed the news, with chairman Paul Bellew stating:
“On behalf of Galway GAA, I want to place on record our sincere thanks to Henry for the leadership, energy and commitment he has given Galway hurling over the past three seasons.
“Henry has driven the highest standards possible during his tenure and left a lasting positive impact on our playing group and on Galway hurling. His mentality and will to win remains unmatched and the group will reap the benefits of this.
“Henry has been outstanding to deal with over the last three years and this is reflected in the esteem he is held in by our players, supporters and all involved in Galway GAA.
“We also want to thank and acknowledge the massive contribution of Richie O’Neill, Damien Joyce, Kevin Lally and Eamon O’Shea and the wider background team for their efforts during Henry’s term.”
Galway now seek to make a fresh appointment. The obvious names that will come up will include current Dublin manager and Galway’s former All-Ireland winning manager Micheál Donoghue.
Fitzgerald’s name had been attached to the job the last time it came up and it will inevitably be linked here again.
Hup ya go Davy !!
@Barry Lehane: ah no. Galway hurling in a bad enough place.
The writing was on the wall. Whoever takes over will have a job on their hands.
@Ray Ridge: You might take it Ray, when you have finished with the Euros and Olympics. Henry to Deise????
@Ray Ridge: who would be best man or woman (have to be pc in the modern age) for the job?
@Ben Breathnach: could be Henry for the Deise for sure, he has a very close infinity with the Deise where he perfected his hurling skills down there when he was in WIT back in the late 90’s early 00’s
@Ben Breathnach: Well I’ve about as much inter county managerial experience as Herny had when he got the job, so you never know.
They had a good man and they wouldn’t give him the little bit extra he asked for.
@Ray Ridge: Maybe he might be coming back Ray. Not much prospects where he is now.
@Ray Ridge: ah ya Shane O Neill was shafted by Co board
@Martin: Doubt he’ll be back anytime soon tbh.
Henry Shefflin definitely wasn’t the issue with Galway hurling. The best players are pushing on now and what’s been coming behind just simply isn’t at the level required to compete at the highest level. We’ve seen this coming for years in Galway. It wouldn’t have mattered who was in charge really, I actually feel sorry for the man. He took on a thankless and impossible job. The challenge for Galway and in particular the county board is going back to basics and trying to develop from grassroots up players who will be able to bring Galway back in contention with the big boys. I think Cork will eventually become the next dominant force.
@anthony davoren: Yer wrong about cork chief.
@Barry Dowling: people said the same about Limerick before they won in 2018 and that hasn’t aged well
@anthony davoren: Cork will have their day in the sun pretty soon, perhaps in a few weeks time. I’m not sure about them becoming a dominant force though. Perhaps one or two Celtic crosses no more than that though
Cormac. Davy couldn’t do much worse than shefflin did for 3 years.
@Patrick Morrissey: people would want to realise that whoever the manager is, it’s the players that win games. All one needs to do is look at Tipperary minors against Kilkenny last Saturday. With two players gone all managers/coaches plans go out the window and then Tipperary hurled fearlessly, without abandon, with heart and soul and deservedly won the match. There be way too much bull about managers/coaches etc etc. personally I think lots of coaches managers destroy hurlers
@WqM9AAv3: So, what ya saying
@Barry Dowling: I’m saying players are the ones who win games and that managers are destroying lots of players natural abilities with their over coaching and over tactics. Sport is a simple game, why complicate it?
@WqM9AAv3: That was a good kilkenny minor team, but the two extra players were badly managed from the sideline.
His reign was a bit of a disaster, in all honesty. No silverware and barely any big championship wins of note. Three wasted years. Let’s hope Galway are daft enough to give it to Davy, there would be fireworks before long.
Straight swap between the 2 boys #jobs4dalads
Planty more will be going out the door
Don’t think he did a bad job, this Galway job is a thankless and near impossible task. Team is in transition and the players are woefully inconsistent from game to game regardless of who’s over them. Did okay to reach two Leinster finals and two All Ireland semis, although probably should’ve won at least one of those 4 games. Right time for him to move on.
I can see Donoghue going back to Galway if he is on good terms with the county board.
Then Davy to Dublin or Galway depending on where Donoghue is next year.
Henry to Waterford would be a very handy commute compared with Galway. He might want to take some time out after Galway.
It will be fascinating to see how it all pans out.
Merry-go-round
@Jp Cleary: Henry for waterford??