SO PAUL GALVIN is “man enough to take his punishment” and Kerry it seems are now determined to press on without him – galvanised perhaps being the suitable word to describe the effect his eight-week suspension has had on his team-mates.
It wasn’t entirely unexpected, and yet Galvin’s decision not to attend a Central Hearings Committee (CHC) meeting – as is his right – and instead accept his eight-week suspension without any course of defence would appear to be at least partly based on the notion that he had little or no chance of escaping his punishment anyway.
As a result, the current Footballer of the Year will now definitely miss Kerry’s Munster final against Limerick on July 4th and up to and including the AllIreland quarter-final on the first weekend in August – provided, of course, Kerry get that far.
This follows the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) decision to propose the eight-week suspension (four weeks, doubled for a repeat of a similar offence) following their review of an incident in last Sunday’s Munster semi-final replay in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, where television footage caught Galvin sticking his fingers into the mouth of Cork’s Eoin Cadogen.
Kerry County Board chairman Jerome Conway had reacted to that news by admitting “he was not confident” that any subsequent appeal would be successful in getting Galvin’s suspension either reduced or lifted. Last night, Conway confirmed that Galvin had in fact decided to accept the proposed suspension – and that no hearing would be requested.
“It was Paul’s choice whether he wanted a hearing or not,” said Conway, “but he has decided he will not be seeking a hearing. He’s man enough to take his punishment. He realises that what he did was wrong, and we’ll move on now and focus our attention on the Munster final.”
Clearly a player of Galvin’s calibre is not easily replaced and Kerry defender Killian Young admitted yesterday that going into any game without him raises the challenge: “It’ll be very tough. You can see that Paul made an absolutely massive difference to the team last Sunday. He drove us forward.
“He won everything in the middle of the field. It was like as if the ball was glued to him. He was absolutely fantastic.
“And he is the best footballer in Ireland right now. In the dressing-room as well he’s a fantastic leader. You can see on the pitch what a difference he can make to a team. The way he goes in for breaking ball.
“It’s one of the most important things, breaking ball, and you can see it there the first day against Cork, we were outfought in the middle of the field and that’s what brought Cork on. At the end of the day it’s possession and that’s what Paul can bring for you.”
The task for Young and his other team-mates now is to take on some of that leadership, and even though Galvin’s loss comes on the back of the absence of such players as Darragh Ó Sé and Tadhg Kennelly, it’s something they are all willing to embrace.
“There are plenty of leaders in the team,” he said, “and we will manage perfect no matter what. We have a great panel there and there is great heart there.
“We are working together and I think we will do fine. But we don’t even talk about these controversies. You just get on with it. You get on with your football and try to impress the next day because there is such a demand in training and you are trying to do so well that you are focused on that. Everyone is fighting for positions in there.
“We will get on with focusing on the Munster final for the next three weeks. It is not the players who worry about these things at all,” added Young in connection with disciplinary hearings.
And Young believes Galvin will come back as strong as ever despite his eight-week break – provided of course Kerry are still in the championship at that stage. “He will be fine. Paul is well able. He has had worse times and he is well able to handle it. No better man to handle that.”
But is he a victim of his reputation? “It’s a hard one to call. Paul is a fantastic player. He’s been caught in a few bad things but, look, that’s life. It’s a sport really.”
