Fitzgerald Retires/Coleman leaves Galway Panel

[Duine Eile]

According to Galway Bay Fm this morning Kieran Fitz has retired from inter county football and Niall Coleman has left the panel citing work commitments as his reason for leaving. Now call me cynical but is it not a strange time of the year to decide to retire/leave the panel? Along with that in last weeks Connacht Tribune Kieran Fitz said he thought Joe Kernan should have gotten another year in charge. Sounds like Tomas wouldn't be his favourite person.

[Croí na hÉireann]

The aul lad will be in good form today so, not a fan of Kieran Fitz

[GalwayBayBoy]

According to Galway Bay Fm this morning Kieran Fitz has retired from inter county football and Niall Coleman has left the panel citing work commitments as his reason for leaving. Now call me cynical but is it not a strange time of the year to decide to retire/leave the panel? Along with that in last weeks Connacht Tribune Kieran Fitz said he thought Joe Kernan should have gotten another year in charge. Sounds like Tomas wouldn't be his favourite person.

Sounds like things are going well in the Galway camp.

Galway football has been plunged into uncertainty following the news that experienced pair Kieran Fitzgerald and Niall Coleman have withdrawn from Tomás O Flatharta's panel.

Coming a week after the county's first game of the Allianz National Football League, the withdrawals come as a major surprise and a significant blow to the county's hopes of making an impact in Division 1.

O Flatharta's first league game in charge ended in a five-point defeat to a Monaghan side who went into the campaign as relegation favourites, leaving Galway facing an uphill battle to maintain their top flight status.

Fitzgerald's retirement from inter-county football is all the more surprising given that the Corofin man was named as one of three joint captains by O Flatharta just last month.

He has been a fixture in the Galway defence for more than a decade, winning an All-Ireland medal and an All-Star award in 2001.

Appointed captain of the county in 2007, Fitzgerald also appeared at the launch of the 2011 Allianz NFL at Croke Park just two weeks ago.

Coleman, meanwhile, has worn the maroon jersey since 2004.

He cited work commitments as the reason behind his withdrawal from the panel.

Galway take on Down in Newry next weekend.

[maguire 4 mayo]

will Tomás O Flatharta' be next to go??
Ra Silke thinks the team is likely to see further withdrawals of senior players.

from rte website  http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2011/0214/silker.html

[Cosmo Kramer]

The stories of disharmony in the Galway camp have been doing the rounds for a couple of weeks now. i haven't heard many specifics though, what exactly is the problem? They were awful in the second half against Monaghan, total lack of co-ordination and got cleaned all over the pitch.

Is it purely down to O'Flatharta, has he lost the dressingroom? Previous cases like this would suggest that, if he has, he's as well to walk away now.

Or is it that the more experienced Galway players can see that without Joyce and Meehan they are so far off the pace that even with them in the team they will not be able to compete at a national level later in the year? This has been the case for the last couple of years as well though, it is not a new problem.

What happened to the under 21's of 03 and 05 and the minors of 07? Most counties with that kind of success record would be expecting to be winning titles, but Galway are nowhere near that level now.




Edit: Listened to the Ray Silke interview there - basically the players are hating training under the new management, its too serious and they're not getting any enjoyment out of it. Lads travelling long distances would still play for Galway under different circumstances but don't particularly think its worthwhile as long as the current management team are in place.

[ross4life]

What happened to the under 21's of 03 and 05 and the minors of 07? Most counties with that kind of success record would be expecting to be winning titles, but Galway are nowhere near that level now.

To be fair Galway got loads of players out of those under 21 teams Bergin,Clancy,N. Joyce,Meehan & indeed fitzgerald himself... of course when it came to the senior set up poor management & not been able to find the right balance are the reason's why they didn't reach the same levels

Same thing has happened in Mayo with the under-aged talent & it remains to be seen can Horan get the best out of them?

[Zulu]

Edit: Listened to the Ray Silke interview there - basically the players are hating training under the new management, its too serious and they're not getting any enjoyment out of it. Lads travelling long distances would still play for Galway under different circumstances but don't particularly think its worthwhile as long as the current management team are in place.

Too serious, how can it be that? Surely they can get enough enjoyment out of working hard and playing football during training without it having to be a laugh a minute?

[INDIANA]

O Flaharta wont get the best out of Galway.

Galway have a natural instinct for the game. They need a Galway-man in charge. Stop going for these outside defence orientated coaches.

Has to be some element of enjoyment Zulu- they dont get paid for it.

[Zulu]

I agree but I can't understand how it can be too serious. You work hard on the pitch and have a bit of banter beforehand and after. I find it hard to understand how lads could find it so un-enjoyable after a few weeks that they are walking away.

[DuffleKing]

The regime and approach can certainly take the enjoyment of being anywhere - sport, work or life

[mannix]

I agree with duffle king,  I played under a lot of different trainers managers over the years. Most were sound and I enjoyed it but some were not too nice and I did not try as hard for them. Same with work, a nice boss can make a terrible job more bearable and likewise a bad boss can make a nice job seem like hell.  When you are training as hard as a county player in bad weather and get nothing but abuse it must be easy to walk away.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Edit: Listened to the Ray Silke interview there - basically the players are hating training under the new management, its too serious and they're not getting any enjoyment out of it. Lads travelling long distances would still play for Galway under different circumstances but don't particularly think its worthwhile as long as the current management team are in place.

They must really not like O'Flaharta or his methods then as he's only been there a wet week.

Don't tell me there's another strike on the way.

[Zulu]

The regime and approach can certainly take the enjoyment of being anywhere - sport, work or life

Again, I would accept that but I don't think Tomás O Flatharta would be the kind of man who acts so badly that guy's are walking away after a few weeks. I read recently that Pat Gilroy doesn't allow anyone out on the pitch before training on their own, they all go out together for an allocated time before training starts. He has Dublin training in the morning and 'free spirited' players have to tow the line. It may not be as much fun as under other managers but it is working. I'd imagine Brian Coady doesn't have lads in stitches laughing every night either. A bit of banter and some fun drills are good but I don't accept that O Flatharta's methods are so bad/un-enjoyable, that players feel the need to walk away. Sounds like there is more to it than that.

[Jinxy]

Galway are the new Cavan.

[rosnarun]

The regime and approach can certainly take the enjoyment of being anywhere - sport, work or life

Again, I would accept that but I don't think Tomás O Flatharta would be the kind of man who acts so badly that guy's are walking away after a few weeks. I read recently that Pat Gilroy doesn't allow anyone out on the pitch before training on their own, they all go out together for an allocated time before training starts. He has Dublin training in the morning and 'free spirited' players have to tow the line. It may not be as much fun as under other managers but it is working. I'd imagine Brian Coady doesn't have lads in stitches laughing every night either. A bit of banter and some fun drills are good but I don't accept that O Flatharta's methods are so bad/un-enjoyable, that players feel the need to walk away. Sounds like there is more to it than that.

MAybe O Flatharta needs to clear out the panel and bring in the players he think buy into his style of management. no point in picking players and then say they didn't listen to him.
Now is his time t put his neck on the line with his selection.
This is why MAnagers are to large extent always responsibly for good or bad team . they choose who goes on the panel / field
i would not like to be explaning to P Joyce that what his approach has been wrong for the last 12 years