Michéal Donoghue Steps Down As Galway Senior Hurling Manager

Galway Bay Fm Sport can reveal that Micheál Donoghue has tonight stepped down as Galway Senior Hurling manager. Donoghue and his management team have resigned after a four year stint in charge – a development that will come as a major shock. The highlight of his term was the All Ireland Final win of 2017, which bridged a 29 year gap to the last time that the McCarthy Cup came West.

Reports appeared in the media some time ago stating that the Clarinbridge man was to continue in the position – he has not completed his allotted term - but it appears now that those reports were incorrect. The decision by Donoghue and his management team of Francis Forde and Noel Larkin to step down will come as a major surprise to the Galway hurling fraternity, although there were some rumblings of the departure in recent days.

Micheál Donoghue’s departure will leave the Galway County Board with a major void to fill. His record since taking over in late December 2015 has been highly impressive. In charge for 23 Championship games, Micheál oversaw 16 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses (2 of which were by a point in the 2016 All Ireland Semi and the 2018 All Ireland Final). Under his management Galway reached 3 All Ireland Semi Finals, 3 Leinster Finals, 2 All Ireland Finals, a National League Final and 2 Walsh Cup Finals, winning 2 Leinster titles, 1 National league title, 1 Walsh Cup and the 2017 All Ireland title.

Galway went out of this season’s Championship after being defeated by Dublin in the final round of the Leinster Championship round-robin. Galway’s elimination from the Championship on score difference came as a shock though it was a season were Galway were denied the services of a number of their front line performers for sustained periods, with the injury to Joe Canning being just one example.

In a statement to Galway Bay Fm Sport, Micheal Donoghue stated:

“I, together with the Galway Senior Hurling Management team, today informed the Galway County Board that we are not taking up the fifth year of our term.

We would like to thank Galway GAA for the opportunity they gave us to lead Galway Hurling - it was the opportunity of a lifetime and was both an honour and privilege to do.

We started out in December 2015 with the simple goal to bring success back to Galway hurling and to build a culture of professionalism and consistency in performance. Since then we have had some amazing days most notably the
2017 All Ireland success. After four seasons we feel the time is now right to hand on the opportunity to a new management team.

We would like to thank the players for their honesty, dedication and commitment to their sport and county.

We would like to acknowledge and thank our background team and support staff who worked with us for their expertise and service to the Galway Senior Hurling team.

To our families and our employers - thank you for being so understanding and supportive of the time commitment a job like this takes.

To our main sponsor Supermacs and the many other sponsors who give so willingly their support - thank you, it is greatly appreciated.

Finally, we thank the Galway Hurling Clubs and the Galway Hurling supporters - your passion, commitment and connection with this team have made doing this job a joy.

For us all, Galway Hurling will continue to play a huge part in our hearts and lives and we wish Galway GAA every success in the future.

Gaillimh Abú”