KERRY FOOTBALL manager Pat O'Shea has finally been able to close the book on the long-running saga surrounding team captain Paul Galvin who returned to training last Monday evening.
Galvin was suspended for six months after slapping referee Paddy Russell's notebook to the ground on being sent off in the Munster championship game against Clare on June 15th. The suspension was eventually reduced to three months after a marathon appeal process ensuring the Finuge man is now available for the All-Ireland final against Tyrone on September 21st.
Speaking on Radio Kerry's Terrace Talk show, O'Shea said of the Galvin incident: "I think unfortunately it was a minute where Paul obviously reacted at the time when he felt that he was being body-checked or whatever and he felt that he didn't deserve to be sent off. But it's all behind us now and Paul is back in with us again and getting ready for an All-Ireland final.
"I suppose at the time it affected us because it showed that we were very vulnerable and we had very much to stick together and we needed everybody to be performing. Not alone did we lose Paul that day but also lost Declan O'Sullivan (to a knee injury) for a period of time afterwards. It affected the team and it affected the psyche of the team and it took us a little bit of time to get over it."
Kerry lost the Munster final to Cork but with the return of O'Sullivan and the breakthrough of teenage forward Tommy Walsh they recovered to beat Monaghan, Galway and Cork in a replay to reach their fifth consecutive All-Ireland final.
However, O'Shea remains critical of certain elements of the media coverage of the Galvin incident, particularly the treatment of an amateur sportsmen.
"I did think that the media coverage of the incident - and I did say it at the time - was way over the top from a personal point of view for Paul and his family. Paul was the first person to put up his hand and say that he was sorry when he was wrong.
"I think that after this, it got taken too far and I would contend that this case shows the need that, from now on, there has to be some sort of line drawn in the amateur game where people's privacy and their personal life cannot be associated with what they do on the sporting fields. I think when an isolated incident like what happened with Paul is used to tarnish his career then we have a difficulty."
Meanwhile, the Laois County Board will complete the last of six interviews for the vacant football manager's position today. An announcement could be forthcoming by tomorrow but is certainly expected ahead of the local championship quarter-finals on Saturday week.
The Galway Hurling Board may convene next week to clarify whether or not Ger Loughnane is being retained as manager for a third year. Loughnane gave a presentation and answered questions from club delegates at last month's meeting but a decision on his future was deferred until the September meeting.
As part of the build-up to next week's All-Ireland football final, the Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Library and Archive in Armagh will be commemorating, 'Michael Cusack: GAA Pioneer and Propagandist,' next Wednesday from 7.30pm.
Former senior player Danny O'Hanlon has been added to the Tipperary panel ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland under-21 hurling final against Kilkenny.
Manager Declan Carr is checking the fitness of three players - wing back Joey McLoughney (damaged a/c shoulder joint), fellow defenders Michael Cahill (bruised hip bone) and John O'Keeffe (bruised forearm). McLoughney is rated the most doubtful of the trio.
