EOIN BROSNAN SAW Paul Galvin reinvent himself in the past, and he has no doubt that his former Kerry teammate could have done it again if he had not retired.
The pair won three All-Ireland titles together but were on opposite sides for what turned out to be Galvin’s final game, a challenge match between Kerry and Dr Crokes last month.
Galvin lined out again at centre-back as Eamonn Fitzmaurice tried to fill the void left by Brosnan and Tomás Ó Sé’s own inter-county retirements last winter.
The former Footballer of the Year is understood to have had a tough game against the Munster champions, who are preparing for an AIB All-Ireland semi-final against Castlebar Mitchels next week, but Brosnan believes he would have settled into his new role without too much difficulty.
Instead Galvin shocked the GAA on Saturday night, citing work and personal commitments as he called time on an 11-year senior career.
“Eamonn had said that he was committed for the year but a lot might go on behind the scenes.
“He probably said he would try it for a month or two, but [with] the level of preparation now at inter-county level, whether it’s the gym and whatnot, I’m sure that from Paul’s point of view he has a living to make.
“A lot of his work would be weekend and evening-based, and I’m sure his inter-county career was hindering his personal career. There’s only so many years you can do that because obviously it’s an amateur sport and you have bills to pay.”
Brosnan with Ciaran Naughton of Castlebar Mitchels: The Munster and Connacht champions meet in the AIB All-Ireland semi-finals (INPHO/Cathal Noonan)
Brosnan, who has made the transition from attack to defence himself in recent years, remembers Galvin during his days as a flying wing-back for UCC in the late 1990s.
It was Jack O’Connor who reinvented him as a wing-forward.
Paul was traditionally a fantastic wing-back when I was at UCC. I remember in 1999 on the UCC panel that got to an All-Ireland semi-final as well, he got Munster club player of the year.
“He was an absolutely brilliant wing-back so when he came in at wing-forward it was a little bit new at the time. I reinvented myself as a defender as well, I had never ever played in defence before 08-09 with the club.
“It was certainly well within his capabilities.”
He added: “I know that he was playing in the role at centre-back [against Crokes]. Daithi Casey was on him and they had a good battle.
“It was a new position for him and, even when I went to centre-back, you’re trying to say ‘am I filling a space here in front of the full-back line or marking your man?’ A lot can be read into challenge games and he was going to take a little bit of time to get into that position.
Galvin in action for UCC during the 2000 All-Ireland Club Championship (INPHO/Billy Stickland)
“The other thing about challenge games is that you don’t prepare as well as you would for a National League or Championship game where your sole focus is on the team and you’re looking at systems and that.
With a challenge game, it’s really kind of off the cuff. I wouldn’t read a whole pile into challenge games in general.
One thing that’s for sure is that Galvin’s retirement will rob the Kerry dressing room of a “fierce” talent.
“He was a very deep thinker. He was very passionate.
“He wouldn’t speak a whole lot but when Paul spoke, you listened because you could see that he’d thought about it before and that he wouldn’t speak unless he had something positive or that he had to speak.
“There’s three experienced players gone from the set-up this year — myself, Tomás and Paul — but there’s still an experienced core there: The Gooch, Donaghy, Declan O’Sullivan, and then the likes of Marc Ó Sé and Aidan O’Mahony who are a couple of years older than those fellas.”
