Noel Lane is under no illusions about the job in store. Galway have won just one senior hurling championship match outside Connacht since 1993 and after a decade that promised so much but delivered so little, the county is becoming increasingly hungry for success.

Last Tuesday night the Galway club delegates decided Mattie Murphy had given it a fair crack but Lane was now the man for the job.

The year 1980 stands out as the highlight of Lane's playing days. Galway hadn't won an All-Ireland hurling title in 57 years, but then, finally, it came. Lane was there at corner forward, and then returned to the frame for the back-to-back All-Irelands of 1987-'88. Three All-Ireland senior hurling medals is as much as anyone in Galway can boast.

He went on to manage the Galway minor sides in 1995 and 1996, and then the under-21 side in 1998 and last year. Now he wants to hold the ropes at the highest level.

"It's a fresh start and a clean sheet and no player can be guaranteed anything. But I wouldn't have got involved if I didn't believe the talent was there. And the key objective is to win an All-Ireland.

"But it's not that the state of hurling in Galway is that bad. We won the league title this year and had the first championship win outside Connacht since 1993. But we want to consolidate that and build on that."

He has chosen the "strongest possible team" to assist him. Former Clare trainer Michael McNamara, a part of Ger Loughnane's All-Ireland-winning management team, and former Galway player John Connolly, who captained the side that lost the 1975 All-Ireland final to Kilkenny, complete the picture.

McNamara will concentrate on the fitness end of things while Connolly will be head coach.

"In some ways I was inspired to bring in Michael by what John O'Mahony did with the football side as an outsider. But I was always very impressed by him. We worked with the international shinty team for three years, and had some trips to Scotland where I got to know him quite well. "And of course John is a hurling legend in Galway and his commitment has always impressed me."

Lane specifies his immediate plans. "Between now and the start of the league we want to identify the style of game that we want to play, and that will also dictate the type of player we want.

"I know we will be concentrating on a more direct style of play, and we'll be working on a panel that can do that."