New Galway football team manager appointed

FORMER Armagh player and manager Joe Kernan was appointed Galway senior football manager last night (Wednesday) and has been handed a three year term.Kernan, who guided Armagh to an historic All-Ireland triumph in 2002, was ratitifed by a full meeting of the Galway Football Board in Loughgeorge. It’s a major coup for Galway in the wake of Liam Sammon’s surprising decisioon to stand down as team manager afer a luckless summer which saw the Tribesmen suffer one point championship defeats on consecutive weekends.The vacant Galway post attracted high profile nominations with Kernan, former Westmeath boss, Tomás Ó Flatharta, current Sligo manager, Kevin Walsh, ex-Clare supremo, Frank Doherty, and former long serving Galway selector, Pete Warren, all proposed.But Walsh, Doherty and Warren opted against seeking the post, leaving it a straight contest between Kernan, who is expected to attend Sunday’s Galway football semi-finals at Tuam Stadium, and Ó Flatharta. Both candidates were interviewed by a special Football Board Committee, headed by Chairman John Joe Holleran, and their recommendation that Kernan would succeed Sammon was approved by delegates.Kernan’s three year term will be reviewed annually and his arrival in Galway will undoubtedly invigorate the county’s footballers who have something to prove after a largely disappointing championship campaign.“Joe is a big catch for us and he has a proven track record at the highest level,” said Holleran, who revealed that the new management team would be completed over the coming weeks.The Football Board Chairman also paid tribute to Sammon again. “Liam gave the job 100%, we had no dispute with him and we worked well together. It didn’t go that well this year, but it’s time to look to the future.”