New boss Walsh determined to find the best talent

FOR over a decade and a half, he was Galway’s leader in the middle of the field and now 13 years on from the county’s last All-Ireland success, Killanin’s Kevin Walsh has taken over the leadership role on the sidelines.

His position was ‘rubber stamped’ at last Monday night’s County Board meeting along with his two selectors of Sean Conlon (Barna) and Brian Silke (Corofin), for the next three years.

This week, he told Tribune Sport that while he was naturally honoured and excited at the job of managing Galway, he was also well aware of the scale of the challenge facing him.

“These are early days but one message I want to get out there is that I want to extend the net in terms of looking for players who could make it at county senior level.

“That in itself is a big task but we want to spread the net to look at players involved with intermediate and junior clubs too. There is a lot of football talent in Galway and I want to make sure that we don’t miss out on anyone, just because they might be involved with an intermediate or junior club,” said Walsh.

He has ‘served his time’ with Killanin and Sligo, the latter for a five year term, while this season he has guided the fortunes of Micheál Breathnach in the Galway championship and league, but he knows full well that his managerial career will probably hinge on the next three years.

“I am starting out with a lot ambition and a lot of hope too, but we have an awful lot of work to do in order to close that gap between us and the top five or six counties in Ireland.

“I suppose that every manager hopes for a bit of patience from our followers but as we all know patience can wear thin if the results aren’t coming on stream,” said Walsh.

Full interview in this week’s Connacht Tribune.