STEPHEN GLENNON

GALWAY manager Gerry Fahy is, surprisingly, quite relaxed before his charges face Cork in an intriguing All-Ireland minor football semi-final at Croke Park on Sunday.

Then again, as he explains, he has been in similar positions many times before, going all the way back to 1986, when he was a selector on the John Tobin management team that led the county’s minors to All-Ireland glory in that particular year.

Since then, he has enjoyed many ‘ups’ and had to endure just as many ‘downs’ over his management career. Yet, through it all, he has absorbed the good with the bad, because, hopefully, it all would, in time, help him to become a better mentor.

By nature, Fahy endeavours to remain positive as he recognises that it is out of positivity that results are ultimately yielded. A seed will not blossom on barren wasteland. It will only flourish with encouragement, affirmative action, confidence and self-belief, all of which must be tempered with an adequate measure of constructive criticism.There must also be foresight. Believe it, and it will be so.

“I will tell you a story,” chuckles Fahy. “When I was with the Sigerson team in NUIG (2003), and we were going down (to compete in the knockout stages), we stopped in Ennis because the sponsor had a pub there. So, we went in for tea and sandwiches. As I was going out the door, I said to him ‘I will see you Sunday morning and we will put the Cup up there’, pointing to the shelf. And, sure enough, we did manage that.”

The anecdote doesn’t stop there, though, as Fahy recalls having a tongue-in-cheek conversation with his goalkeeper that very same day, in which he pondered what would his charges do if they were a point up, and a scoreable free was given against them.

“I wondered if we could lift somebody up onto another player’s shoulders to stop the ball going over the crossbar,” he grins. “I was only passing time, although we might plan something like that for Croke Park on Sunday,” he laughs.