Loyal servant to Galway football at many levels

Date Published: {J}

THERE are more strings to Ciarán Ó Fátharta’s bow than there are collectively in the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. A former All-Ireland winning minor footballer. A former All-Ireland minor winning selector. A former Galway senior selector. A successful club manager. A husband. A father. And, oh, and he is also a prominent broadcaster with Raidió na Gaeltachta.

Sitting down for a cup of coffee with the Leitir Mór native, it is difficult to know just where to begin, but this column being of a sporting persuasion, it is on one of his great loves, Gaelic football, with which we kick off the conversation.

It is a topic that Ó Fátharta could claim to be an authority on, but it is not in his nature. So, he tells his story as he remembers it, fondly returning to those early days as a young fellow, when the world was at his feet.

“I went to the [Galway minor] trials in ’75, but I didn’t make it. In ’76, I went again and I made the league panel, and then the championship panel,” says Ó Fátharta.

“I suppose, Leitir Mór had a fairly good minor team in ’76. We won the West Board final, but by the time the county semi-final came around, half of the team had emigrated, and we were beaten by Ballinasloe. Anyway, Padraig Conroy and I went on to play for the county minors and lucky enough we won the All-Ireland that year, under the guidance of Johnny Geraghty, the former Galway goalkeeper.”

Indeed, mention of Geraghty, and Ó Fátharta comes to life. “A fantastic man and a fantastic manager,” states the An Cheathrú Rua resident. “For the likes of me, I will never understand why he was never given the Galway senior reigns or why he was never in charge of Galway senior teams in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s? Because he was a genius. He was a great man manager, a great tactician.”

No doubt, Geraghty certainly got the best out of his young charges in ’76. “We beat Mayo in Hyde Park in the Connacht semi-final and I gave away two penalties that day!” smiles Ó Fátharta. “We beat Sligo handy enough in the final, actually we hammered them [6-16 to 3-3], and then we played Dublin in the semi-final. We were lucky to get away with that.”

A narrow victory for Galway against the Dubs set up a meeting against Munster champions Cork in the All-Ireland decider. “We didn’t really know anything about them because there were no videos to analyse in that time. Johnny, though, had this thing of playing to your own strengths and in fairness we trained hard for it. All Geraghty’s training was done with the ball, everything.

“The sessions were in Tuam and it was a fair spin from Leitir Mór to Tuam. We had a great fellow there who took care of us, Tom Griffin – or Tómas O’Griofa – and he was a Leitir Mór clubman. He stuck with us from our first day on the campaign, right to the end. Actually, he used to give Johnny Geraghty a lift from Salthill to Tuam as well. Tom was the only chauffeur, I’d say, who was ever in a dug-out for the All-Ireland final. He was a great man.”

In the end, Galway romped home to a comprehensive 1-10 to 0-6 victory and by the time the U-21 championship came around in the late ‘70s, hopes were high that the team could, once again, scale lofty heights. Unfortunately, though, Galway were beaten by Roscommon in the ’78 Connacht final and while the Tribesmen did secure the title in ’79, they subsequently fell to Down in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Ó Fátharta did line out at senior level for a couple of years, but an injury in the early ‘80s – and subsequent dip in form – curtailed his time and by ’82 he was no longer involved. However, his involvement with Galway did not end there and in ’86 he teamed up with John Tobin, Gerry Fahy and co. to mentor the minor team.

“We won the All-Ireland that year as well [coincidentally defeating Cork again in the decider]. John Tobin was manager and Gerry Fahy was also involved, along with Tommy Keenan and the late Mattie McDonagh. We had a savage team. We had Kevin Walsh, the late John Joyce – Lord have mercy on him – and, of course, Alan Mulholland [current Galway senior manager] was on that team.”

Indeed, Ó Fátharta believes Mulholland can, once again, return Galway to the top of the rankings, but he says the Salthill/Knocknacarra man will need time. “Alan was centre-back [on the minor team] and he always had leadership qualities. While John Joyce was the captain, Alan was a leader on the field.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.