Cossie Gilmore reflects on positive campaign with Galway minor footballers
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GALWAY minor football manager Cossie Gilmore said despite his side’s defeat to Tyrone in the All-Ireland quarter-final last weekend, there are still plenty of positives to be taken from the 2026 season.
“When you get over the disappointment, you have to be positive with how the year went. We competed in a Connacht final and we competed in an All-Ireland quarter-final and to be honest with you we didn’t look out of place in either of them,” Gilmore told Tribune Sport.
Gilmore feels it is important that the next crop of Galway minor footballers now push onto U20 level.
“The Connacht final is probably one we left behind us, we should have won it, our form since that would back that up. If we can get five or six lads through in the next few years from that team because at the end of the day, it’s about development.
“Silverware is always welcome but it’s our job to bring lads through and give them their first taste of inter-county football and bring them through to the next level with the U20’s with Kevin (Johnson) and hopefully they’ll excel there and progress onto senior level with Padraic (Joyce).
This was Gilmore’s first year in charge of the Tribesmen at minor level. The Bearna clubman previously worked with the Galway minors under Donal Ó Fátharta and he also gained experience with the Longford senior footballers under Paddy Christie.
Fionan Kelly and Oliver Ó Suilleabháin are the only two players from this year’s panel available to play minor football in 2027.