'I did wrestle with it a lot' - New Galway boss Éamonn Fitzmaurice on prospect of facing Kerry

ÉAMONN FITZMAURICE SAYS he had no intention of going back into inter-county management, least of all with another county, until a call came from Galway after Pádraic Joyce stepped down after seven years in charge.

Fitzmaurice said there was something about the call from Galway GAA chairman Paul Bellew that turned his head and made the former Kerry All-Ireland winning player and manager, who will be 50 next year, realise this sort of opportunity might not come along again.

Fitzmaurice, who has been appointed the Galway senior football manager for the next three years, told a media briefing in Loughrea on Saturday morning that he had no intention of going back into inter-county after stepping away from the Kerry job in 2018 after six years in charge.

He had been content with media work and coaching jobs with Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne in Dingle, where he is principal, and a couple of clubs in Kerry that he had ties to.

“Paul Bellew reached out the weekend after Pádraic had stepped down. I’ve had these calls over the last couple of years, I suppose and it’s never gone beyond the phonecall, but for whatever reason this time, my head was turned and I decided maybe out of curiosity or whatever that I’d explore it.

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“I met Paul a couple of times, we spoke a good few times, there was a good bit of, you know, I suppose balancing to be done at my side of the house to see if I could make it happen, and eventually we got to a point then where I sat down and interviewed with the selection committee and it went from there, then,” said Fitzmaurice, who guided the Kingdom to All-Ireland glory in 2014, having won three senior medals as a player.

Fitzmaurice said there were a few factors he had to address but after speaking to family and his work colleagues in Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, he could consider the football side of things.

“The Kerry side of things was obviously a big consideration for me, because I would never, even up to a couple of weeks ago, I wouldn’t have ever thought that I would end up managing against Kerry, but I wouldn’t be, so I had to get through that part.

“I did wrestle with it a lot. There’s a cohort that I would have had at school that we would have won a good bit of stuff with and that I would have taught. You obviously have a bond with those lads and then there’s a host of the lads who are still playing that I would have given them their first start and again you always have a special bond with the manager that gives you your first Kerry jersey.”

Fitzmaurice said he isn’t the first Kerry man to take charge of another county and play the Kingdom.

He cited the likes of Mick O’Dywer, Páidi Ó Sé, Mickey Ned O’Sulliva, Peter Keane and even current manager Jack O’Connor who have gone to outside counties.

“There are former Kerry managers who have gone beyond the county boundary so I’m not the first one I suppose which gives me a bit of comfort. And to be fair to all the lads they were welcomed back into the county afterwards.

“So I mightn’t be flavour of the month for the next couple of years but I think people know me well enough in Kerry to accept the decision.”

Fitzmaurice, who is in the process of putting his backroom team in place and who was meeting a selection of squad members for the first time this weekend, said the other factor that was key to his decision was Galway football.

“The final part then was the football project side of it, and that was very exciting from the off. I’ve seen a lot of Galway over the last couple of years, I’ve been at a lot of their games, working with the media, and I had a good bit of time for them, and I think there’s a good bit of potential there, so that side of it was exciting for me from the off, and it was probably the thing that pulled me hardest towards it.

“So there were other things then, I suppose the age that I am now. I’ll be 50 next July, and these kind of opportunities, particularly at the top level of the game, won’t keep coming, and I feel I’m young enough and I have enough energy to go at it.

“My kids are a good age now, and yeah, so here I am, and looking forward to getting stuck into it now,” added the new Galway manager.