The appointment of Henry Shefflin as Galway manager has brought a huge amount of excitement to the county.
While he has no experience at inter-county hurling management, his exploits as a player are unmatched. He has also proved he is a more than capable coach with his achievements with Ballyhale Shamrocks in recent years.
He will inherit a talented squad, although one that has underperformed in recent seasons. It will now be the Kilkenny man's responsibility to get them back firing on all cylinders. What will be his main obstacles to doing so?
What hurdles will Henry Shefflin face in Galway?
Speaking to TG4, former Galway boss Anthony Cunningham said that Henry Shefflin will need to improve Galway's track record of bringing through young players if they are to compete at the highest level once again.
“He was the best in the country as a player, He's very thorough and a brilliant professional”
Smaointí bainisteoir Ros Comáin, Anthony Cunningham ar Henry Shefflin mar bainisteoir Iomána na Gaillimhe@GAA_BEO #RoscommonGAA#GAABEO pic.twitter.com/g1Cc5IQDPg— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) October 31, 2021
It's a brilliant appointment. His pedigree was number one on the in the country as a player, no doubt about that, and he has done really well with Ballyhale Shamrocks.
He is really thorough and very professional. It's a brilliant appointment for Galway and hopefully the players will respond now.
A bit like our earlier part of the interview, we will be hoping that the younger players come through. They have had good success at minor. At club level even we want to see more young players coming through because some of the older players have been given their day and had brilliant performances for Galway.
It will be a big hurdle for Henry and his management team to surpass, to get more games for the younger players.
If you take Kilkenny in the last few years, they have blooded younger players as an example. Waterford have blooded a huge amount of players as well.
Galway are probably a bit behind in blooding players at championship level.
Galway certainly have a strong production line, reaching five consecutive All-Ireland minor finals, winning the first four before falling short against Cork earlier this year.
However, they have struggled to integrate those players into the senior setup. Henry Shefflin managing to change that would go a long way towards getting the county back to where they belong at senior level.
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