New captain Muldoon is anxious for Connacht to drive on

John Muldoon could be described as a reluctant captain.

It certainly took some time – and persuasion – before he agreed to accept the responsibility of Connacht captain this season.

Last year he was one leg of a four stool rotating captains experiment in which he job-shared with Craig Clarke, Gavin Duffy, and Michael Swift.

With Duffy and Clarke both sidelined with injury, and Swifty preferring to focus on his own game, the captain’s armband invariably fell to Muldoon towards the season’s end.

For head coach Pat Lam, the Portumna man was an obvious choice to continue in the role this season. Except, Muldoon didn’t want it.

“I initially refused it,” he says. Playing hard to get? “Ha! Yeah, something like that.”

He wasn’t of course. Rather he was wrestling with internal demons – of self-imposed pressure.

Muldoon took the summer to mull over the proposal. He sought guidance from family and close confidantes, including assistant coach, Dan MacFarland.

Lam asked him again when they returned from holidays; the boss was adamant he was the right man to lead the team. “I aired my concerns,” recalls Muldoon.

“Where did I see the pressure coming from and what pressure was on me as captain? It was all internal as opposed to external pressure. I had a good think about it and said: ‘Why put that amount of pressure on myself?’ Being captain towards the end of last year wasn’t (negatively) affecting my game so why would it affect my game this year, unless I internally made it that way? So I had a good think about it.

“The reason why I was reluctant somewhat is that I didn’t want to do it, take the job and a couple of months down the line not be happy there. I had to be confident in myself to take it. I had come round to the fact that it was my internal pressure that was preventing me from taking it. But at the end of the day, I was very honoured and proud the first time they offered me the captaincy and I’m very honoured and proud now as well. If I take out the pressure from myself I should do alright.”

Of course, now that he is captain, the initial reluctance doesn’t come into the equation. Muldoon doesn’t do things by halves. By his nature he’ll give the role everything.

Muldoon admits his leadership style has changed since his last three years captaincy stint up to 2011.

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