Dunne encouraged by positive Galway launch

Newly appointed Galway FC manager Tommy Dunne has hit the ground running in the West, already plotting his fledgling club’s pre-season training plans while formalising a squad and putting together a backroom team for the upcoming Airtricity League First Division campaign.

“It has been a really busy week since I came in. I've been trying to establish a possible squad that will be around up until the end of pre-season. Then we might try to whittle it down a little bit more,” Dunne said.

Preparations will begin early in the New Year, with the club grateful to be able to avail of the excellent facilities at either Salthill Devon or Mervue United as they get ready for a new beginning. Dunne’s first appointment has already created a link with the recent past.

“I've brought in Adrian Craddock on the fitness side of things. He was involved with Mervue. I've heard good things and he is going to come in. I intend to contact around 30 players. I want to get them in and get them on off season programmes so that we can tick that box.”

Mervue’s third place finish last year gives Dunne hope that a competitive squad can be put together, and the initial response that he has received from potential squad members has been nothing but encouraging.

“Those who I have spoken to all seem to want to come on board. I think they know that it is an exciting time for Galway football. A lot of them were with Mervue and Salthill primarily, most who I have talked to.

“Galway for me was famous when I was playing coming down to play Galway United. The Galway name is always going to excite people. We just have to try to get moving and be competitive. These lads are very excited about it.”

Excited or not, the financial backing of the Comer brothers from Glenamaddy is the primary reason this venture has gotten off the ground, and its long term sustainability depends, as it always has done in a city where many sports vie for attention, on whether enough supporters will pass through the turnstiles at Eamonn Deacy Park on a regular basis.

The idea that the major stakeholders in football in the county would come together to form a unified club that would best serve the interests of all is one that appears pretty straightforward to most outsiders.

In fact, it has been a testing time for all involved, and the extensive involvement of FAI Chief Executive John Delaney shows how close the project was to falling apart. It is imperative now that all involved are pulling in the same direction or mistakes that blighted Galway United in the past will surely be repeated. In Tommy Dunne, they appear to have got the right manager for what could be a very challenging role.

*Galway football lost one of its genuinely legendary characters early this week with the news of Bohermore native Stephen Mannion’s sad passing. A Galway Hibernians stalwart, Stephen played and refereed at local level for many years, his trademark beret and bicycle a well-known facet of football in the city. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.