John O'Mahoney last night became Galway's first outside football manager after a meeting of the county's football board. The Ballaghaderreen teacher will be taking charge of a third Connacht county after leading Mayo to two Connacht titles and the 1989 All-Ireland final, and Leitrim to an historic provincial title in 1994.
His appointment was recommended by an interview committee and sanctioned by last night's meeting of the Galway football board in Tuam by 26 votes to 14 with one abstention. The tenure will be for three years, subject to annual review. After the vote was taken, outgoing manager Val Daly made a speech calling for everyone to get behind the new appointment.
O'Mahoney was one of three candidates shortlisted for the job, along with former All-Ireland winning Derry manager Eamonn Coleman and the incumbent Daly, who is considered unfortunate given the encouraging performance of the team when losing to Mayo in Tuam last May. However, disagreement over one of his selectors caused problems for his chances of reappointment.
"I looked at the job and considered it an enormous challenge," said O'Mahoney last night. "It's different to what I've had before and I consider there to be great potential in Galway. When I was approached I decided to have a cut at it. I'm going in with my eyes open and will conduct a critical analysis of the situation but I am anxious to get started immediately.
"It's been over a year since I retired from Leitrim and if I had taken another year off, I mightn't have come back at all. I am conscious of not wanting the reputation of hopping around the place but I feel I have had reasonable success in my previous appointments."
He admitted disappointment that the appointment hadn't been unanimously ratified. "I was anxious to avoid a rancorous situation and my first aim will be to pull everyone together. I will be starting in the next week to get my back-up structures in place. I am anxious that players don't drift."
The interview committee who assessed the candidates and recommended O'Mahoney consisted of five members: Pat Egan, chairman, John Joe Halloran, vice chairman, Jack Mahon, Brendan Colleran and Francis Roche.
O'Mahoney had also been associated with the Roscommon manager's job which has not gone vacant despite speculation that manager Donie Shine may step down.
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