The word was on the street from last autumn that John O'Mahony had gone a bit cagey. And with good reason. The marriage of his management skills to the raw talent in Galway had been long-touted around the west before being finally consecrated against a background of some disgruntlement as Val Daly, who had done a good job with Galway last year, was unceremoniously dumped.

O'Mahony knew that he was up against a number of considerations. For a start, being an outsider appointed to manage as traditional a footballing power as Galway (still third on the All-Ireland roll of honour) created pressure - even without the messy deposition of Daly.

Expectations would be high, partly because of O'Mahony's record of success elsewhere in the province, but also because of Mayo's achievement over the previous two years in reaching two All-Ireland finals.

That same Mayo team were waiting in Castlebar for a win-or-bust Connacht first round. In the circumstances it would have been a surprise had O'Mahony come over all gabby about his plans for the year.

O'Mahony has remained on good terms with each of the counties he has managed, but one irony of his career in Connacht - four years in Mayo, four in Leitrim and now at the end of his first in Galway - is that he lives in one of the western counties he hasn't so far managed.

Ballaghaderreen is in Roscommon for local governmental purposes, but in Mayo for football, a division which still generates heat locally. It was there in 1950 and '51 that Sean Flanagan first brought the Sam Maguire after Mayo's All-Ireland wins.

An at times edgy rivalry runs through the town, especially when the counties meet in the championship. In 1989, as he led Mayo to a first All-Ireland final since the halcyon days of the 1950s, O'Mahony felt the tension particularly.

O'Mahony played his football for Ballaghaderreen and had a successful career, particularly at under-age, winning All-Ireland medals at minor and under-21 in 1971 and '74. His managerial career started in that same under-age theatre and he took Mayo to an All-Ireland under-21 title in 1983.

He once characterised his management as being "more carrot than stick" and his soft-spoken intensity has always concentrated on trying to get the best out of players by encouragement and reason. At times he acknowledged the impossibility of dealing with some of them, letting one troublesome talent go because the escalating efforts to accommodate him were damaging the morale of everyone else.

An acutely perceptive football commentator, O'Mahony prefers to keep his opinions low-key when in charge of a team. His loyalty to players is noticeable and he never discusses their shortcomings in public.

This year, as public comment on the inaccuracy of the Galway forwards became louder, he refused to acknowledge that there was a problem and preferred to concentrate on the number of chances being created by the free-flowing attack. As a result, pressure never really developed on the forwards and they in turn rewarded his faith by shooting with exceptional economy against Derry in the All-Ireland semi-final.

His spell in charge of the Mayo seniors ended in disappointment. Having taken his county to the 1989 All-Ireland, where they gave Cork a rattle before losing by three points, O'Mahony was perplexed by the home-coming celebrations given that Mayo had won nothing.

After losing in Connacht the following year to Galway, he decided to rebuild and with his recast team came within an ace of winning back the provincial title. But defeat by Roscommon cost him county board support and with it the right to choose his own selectors. He resigned after four years in charge.

Leitrim came calling a year later. A team which had threatened a breakthrough, but never quite delivered, managed in O'Mahony's first year in charge to beat Galway for the first time since the 1940s. A year later, 1994, after receiving a pig of a draw - Roscommon, Galway and Mayo in the one championship - Leitrim won Connacht for the first time since 1927.

After a game performance against Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final, he expressed anxiety that his team wouldn't lose heart from the defeat and had to ask what the final margin had been. On hearing 12 points he winced - obviously more in distress for his players than himself.

It was regularly commented that his meticulous organisation and ability to get the best out of players would be ideal attributes in Galway where there was a number of good footballers in need of direction.

In the year since taking on the job O'Mahony has delivered on a Division One place, a settled team, a Connacht title and a sense of optimism in the county.

O'Mahony can command a special place in the affections of the long-oppressed Galway footballing community if he brings the Sam Maguire back across the Shannon and also a special place in the annals of Connacht football.