CONNACHT SFC FIRST ROUND: KEITH DUGGANsets the scene for this evening's intriguing clash between John O'Mahony's Mayo and Kevin Walsh's Sligo

ONE OF the first things John O’Mahony did after his appointment as Galway manager was to talk Kevin Walsh into carrying on. By 1997 the towering midfielder from Kilanin seemed be fading after a handful of disappointing championship exits and knee problems that dated back to his days as an underage basketball international.

Persuading Walsh was a key element in changing the direction of Galway football and ultimately leads to the latest reunion between the men in Markievicz Park this evening. It makes for an intriguing meeting.

O’Mahony is in his fourth year as Mayo manager and his team are reigning Connacht champions, runners-up in the Division One league final and how far they might advance in the championship is largely guesswork.

Sligo won the Division Three final handsomely and expectations will be unusually buoyant around Sligo town this afternoon. Every so often, the All-Ireland championship conspires to ensure that former masters and mentors cross paths and so it is this evening.

“Put it this way: they would both love to get one over on the other,” says Ray Silke. “There would be great respect between John and Kevin going back to their time in the Galway dressingroom and that has not changed. But for obvious reasons, this is a match they would both like to win.”

Back in 2003, Silke noted in this newspaper that Walsh “would make a good manager if he was interested”.

By then, Walsh had won two All-Ireland medals under O’Mahony and although the maroon shimmer was beginning to dull a little by then, Walsh finished the year with an All-Star.

In what was a fabulous decade for individual stylists in Galway football, Walsh was the boss. It wasn’t that he was that much older than his colleagues, more that he seemed to have been around forever. He burst through with John Tobin’s All-Ireland-winning minor team in 1996 and was hurried through to the senior ranks shortly afterwards, suffering brief championship experiences as O’Mahony illuminated the Leitrim cause and Galway football always seemed to fall short.

Chronic knee injuries had compromised his career – he once said that he wished he had a broken arm to go with the knees so that people could see evidence of an injury – and building a team around him seemed like a risky proposition.

“We went to Kevin and Ja Fallon, who had drifted towards rugby and Tomás Mannion as well,” says Stephen Joyce, a selector under O’Mahony. “I would be reluctant to single anyone out but they were all leaders for us. The funny thing was that Kevin’s injuries weren’t really a problem in those years. I think the new emphasis on diet helped and we made sure he was right before he played.

“And Kevin was a Garda then so if he didn’t feel up to training, the job was a good reason to give for not being available – and I am sure that was given on occasion. But he was a terrific leader on the field for us, very level-headed and he would have been someone that you would imagine going into management.”

But even O’Mahony must be surprised to find Walsh down the line from him so quickly. After a period coaching in Galway’s women’s football, the idea of coaching the Aran Islands team was put to Walsh by a friend of his from the Garda and he agreed.

“It was as big a shock to us as it was to anyone,” says Mairtín Costello, of the Aran Islands club. “It can be terribly difficult to organise a team between the three islands and the most dispiriting thing is that often teams from the mainland won’t travel out to play us.

“They just throw the game rather than come out on a Sunday morning. So getting someone of Kevin Walsh’s reputation to show an interest in us; well, you can imagine the boost.”

Walsh trained the Aran Islands in Galway city twice a week. Most of the team were working on the mainland, but several more took the boat in, stayed overnight and flew out the next morning. “The commitment they gave was exceptional,” Costello says.

Walsh took the team to a West Galway Intermediate final, where they were beaten by Spiddal in a match which concluded with acrimonious scenes. Anyone who saw Walsh’s demeanour on the sideline that season could understand that he was doing more than simply earning his badges with the islanders.

Costello still receives texts and calls from Walsh about the team.

And several of the Aran Islands players are on the Galway junior side against which Walsh will coach the Sligo counterparts on Wednesday evening. “So he will be seeing them then,” Costello say, laughing.

But Costello is the first to acknowledge the jump from Galway junior football to coaching a county side that were Connacht champions just three years ago is formidable. His club role and time spent with O’Mahony training the interprovincial team was the extent of his experience.

But Sligo’s fall from grace had been stark, from a surprising and emotional provincial championship to a sound beating by Mayo and a place in the Tommy Murphy Cup a year later.

“It was certainly a smart decision by Sligo to approach Kevin at the time they did,” Stephen Joyce says. “After their Connacht win, they looked like a team that might be going places but they sort of lost their way a bit and Kevin has done a great job of getting them back on track. We can’t forget how close they came to beating Kerry in Tralee last summer.

“That was a huge performance. As well as that, they play nice football. They really looked at home in Croke Park against Antrim and if anything, even though it is their own ground and it will be packed, Markievicz Park has a pitch that may actually be a little bit tight for them.

“But Kevin has come up through a winning system under John and he would have gained huge knowledge of what was required in those years. The game has evolved since then, there is even more expertise involved but it is obvious that he has adapted.”

Ray Silke noticed the way Walsh walked around to each of his players after the their Division Three win in Croke Park, with a word for each of them.

“He is a really, really good communicator. I think it was clear that day what the Sligo players thought of him.”

Walsh had the same presence in the Galway dressingroom. He had a gift for assuming the role of class leader and prankster, not always the keenest trainer in the world but absolutely dependable at the same time.

In the minutes before the 1998 All-Ireland final, referee John Bannon was getting set to toss the coin.“Are you the captain today, Kevin?” he called to Walsh.

“No, but I should be,” came the reply.

Two years later, Kerry and Galway met in a thrilling All-Ireland final that went to a replay and revolved around Walsh’s fitness. Galway struggled in the first match until Walsh was introduced after just 17 minutes.

“He caught the first ball and a sense of assurance seemed to pass through the whole team,” O’Mahony remarked afterwards.

Galway suffered conversely in the replay, when Walsh had to retire early with an injury. A year later, Galway returned to claim a second All-Ireland in three years, this time through the qualifiers. The supreme victory over Meath marked the high point of the O’Mahony era but Walsh enjoyed a long twilight to his career.

“It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that Kevin is the most important player on the Galway panel,” Silke told this newspaper in 2003. “He has an excellent football brain and works very hard. That would have been the criticism that followed him in the years from 1991-97, that he didn’t. But if Kevin plays well, Galway play well. He doesn’t have the exceptional star qualities of Ja or of Michael Donnellan but in his own quiet way, he is the man.”

When Galway crashed out of the All-Ireland quarter-final after a replay against Donegal in Castlebar, the team came under ferocious local criticism.

Afterwards Walsh responded with a stinging defence of his team-mates and management.

It was clear by then that Walsh was the senior man on a team that was beginning to fragment. John O’Mahony bowed out a year later and Walsh retired from county football in 2005.

O’Mahony’s reputation as one of the most shrewd and strategic managers of modern times had been long established by the time he accepted the deafening calls to take up the Mayo cause again.

They won the Connacht championship in nailbiting fashion last summer and blew a commanding position in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Meath. The comprehensive defeat against Cork was a low end to an impressive league campaign. This evening’s visit to Sligo could be the game on which Mayo’s championship spins.

For Walsh too, it is a huge afternoon. The big push against Kerry and the smooth ascent through Division Three have brought fresh expectations.

“In a way, the league could have a bearing here. Mayo go into this match with a point to prove to themselves and their supporters,” says Stephen Joyce.

“Sligo are coming off the excitement of playing in Croke Park and they have to keep that momentum going.”

Walsh has already made light of his debut managerial appearance against John O’Mahony. But together, they helped shape football in the west of Ireland over the past decade. One way or another, that influence will continue today.