RTÉ GAA analyst Jackie Tyrrell has said that Henry Shefflin risks adding his name to the long list of managers who have failed to crack the Galway code unless he can reach a real milestone in 2024.
Now in his third season with the Tribe County, the three-time Hurler of the Year has only a Walsh Cup to his name, though they have pushed Limerick hard at various stages of the last two All-Ireland semi-finals.
The Treaty County are in town on Saturday and Tyrrell believes that their impending visit will just be a reminder to Shefflin that his plan hasn't played out as he would have hoped in a county that has lifted the Liam MacCarthy just once in 32 years.
"I think he’s scratching his head a small bit," Tyrrell said on the RTÉ GAA podcast.
"I would say knowing Henry he would have felt that he would have been a bit further down the road with this Galway team when he took them over.
"It’s kind of like it has the same feel to other Galway managers outside of Micheál Donoghue who have come in with a good pool base in front of them and haven’t really got to any kind of major milestones like a Leinster (title).
"Getting to an All-Ireland, you take Micheál Donoghue out of the equation, none of the previous managers, Ger Loughnane, go back to John McIntyre, you could throw them all into that pool.
"I would say with Henry’s ambitions he would have liked to be a bit different than those and probably looked to emulate Micheál Donoghue.
"At this point you can’t say, on any given milestone, that he has hit them, so it’s a big, big year for Henry, it really is.
"Look you have to have the backdrop that they’ve come up against an unbelievable team in Limerick (but) I would say he’s a tad disappointed they haven’t won at least a league title or won a Leinster final – something to go back on and say 'look, we did do that.’"
With that in mind, Tyrrell believes it’s imperative that Galway go full pelt at Limerick this weekend, not only as it would guarantee a Division 1 semi-final spot, but would also give them valuable mental ammunition should they meet further down the line.
"(I think) there’s an awful lot more on it for Galway than I do for Limerick.
"Limerick just seem to be plodding along, missing a few key guys but it doesn’t really change a whole lot. They’re just so good at this point that the green machine just continues to carry on.
"For Galway, it is important that they get some new guys.
"I think for Henry, and there is that psychological thing, they need to beat Limerick."
"I don’t feel Henry staying on can go back with that same group because like most other teams, they haven’t got the job done to this point.
"They do need something different, they do need new players and he has been trying that out through his various games so far.
"I think for Henry, and there is that psychological thing, they need to beat Limerick.
"It is only the league but it does help psychologically if you are meeting them later on in the year that you have beaten them at some decent level along the way."
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