Ó Flatharta to scour the county for new talent

Date Published: 13-Oct-2010

Dara Bradley

NEWLY appointed Galway senior football manager Tomás Ó Flatharta has vowed to trawl the county to unearth new talent. The Kerryman and former Westmeath manager, who was ratified as Joe Kernan’s successor last Thursday night, told Tribune Sport this week that he hopes to have his backroom team appointed within three weeks – and then the search for fresh players will commence.

“The most important thing from my point of view at the moment is just to put a backroom team together. Then I think we need to go out and look for new players around the county,” said Ó Flatharta, a native of Tír Bhán, on the Dingle Penninsula.

“Whether they are in a junior, intermediate or senior club we’re going to have a look at them; we’re going to scour the county to see can we get any new players. It’s always very important to have new players available to you and when you have those, if they are good enough, develop them and give them a chance.

“Just because a club is junior doesn’t mean you can consider a player a junior player. He might be with a junior or intermediate club but he might be an outstanding player – that’s why I’d like to see lads from all clubs around the county. If they are good enough, bring them in and give them a chance.

“With the new rules that have come in you can’t have trials for existing county players in November/December, but we hope to have trials for players that are not on the county set-up – you’d have a fair idea of the players that are there already anyway but we’ll look at bringing in new players.”

Ó Flatharta, a bank official living in Leopardstown Dublin, said he is “delighted and privileged” to have landed the job. He said the commute isn’t an issue due to the new motorway between Galway and Dublin – he’s used to three or four hour commutes to Athlone during his years managing Westmeath when tailbacks on the M50, at Enfield and Kinnegad were the norm – although the ‘absentee manager’ factor does bring into focus the importance of picking a strong backroom team locally.