New manager Mulholland offering no quick fix

Date Published: {J}

Dara Bradley

NEWLY appointed Galway senior football manager Alan Mulholland, whose three-year term as expected was rubber-stamped by delegates on Monday, has appealed to Galway supporters to be patient as he embarks on a ‘transition’ period of rebuilding.

The Galway Football Board had attempted the ‘silver bullet’ solutions, when parachuting in Joe Kernan and Tomás Ó Flatharta, and that backfired. Now they’ve taken a sensible, more long-term solution to rebuild Galway football, giving Mulholland a mandate to give youth its fling.

The 42-year-old, who guided Galway to Ted Webb U16, minor and U21 All-Ireland success as manager in 2004, 2007 and 2011 respectively, has dampened expectations of supporters who expect him to immediately translate that underage success into senior glory overnight.

That’s not going to hap

pen, he insists, or rather if it does, it’s a bonus. “The goal is to build the foundation for success in the future . . . we’re not considering silverware in the short-term,” Mulholland said.

But what is the bookmaker’s definition of short-term? Five-years or more? “Well, if we don’t win a Connacht title in two years, I won’t consider that failure. I think everyone in the county is aware that we can’t expect too much. I mean, results have been poor over the last year or two. We only won one league game last year so if we win two this year, that will be progress. We have to be realistic – our goals are about developing young players and progressing from where we are now.

“It’s not going to happen quickly. People need to be patient. Players need to be given time and space to develop. We’re going to have a few bad days and a few bad results over the next couple of years . . . but if people start criticising them and the public get on their backs and starts demanding results . . . that can have an effect on players and on young players in particular. We hope people support and respect what we’re trying to do.”

Is the potential there to win silverware, even if winning titles is not the new manager’s top priority? “That’s an unknown but of course we’d hope the talent is there. What we’re looking for is progress and if we pick something (silverware) up along the way, great. But at the moment we are well behind Mayo, never mind Kerry or Dublin. We’ve got to get back to being competitive in Connacht and start competing against the likes of Mayo again.”

Asked would there be a clear-out of the older players from the current panel, Mulholland said: “We will be endeavouring to identify talent from the underage structure. I’ve been given a mandate to try to develop the younger players within the county, that doesn’t mean we’ll get rid of the senior players.

“We’ve got a backbone of the team that are experienced senior players . . . we’ve got some very good footballers there that have played for their county for years and we would be crazy to let them go. We need some older experienced players to be leaders and then balance that with younger lads. The trick now is how do we identify younger players that are capable of making it at senior and how do we develop them and balance the young players with the experienced players?”

Mulholland is a busy man, with the bookmaking business and family commitments vying for his time but he stresses he can juggle the commitments and handle the added workload.

“I’m taking a jump into the unknown, to be honest. I was given advice by some people saying ‘don’t touch it’ and others said ‘you’d be mad not to go for it’. It’s not about me, this is about the players but yes, I’ve a business that requires a lot of attention especially in the current climate where we’re relying on people’s disposable income which has fallen.

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