RUGBY: Mick Galwey - Shannon's most successful ever player - will assume the mantle of head coach at the six-time AIB League champions fortwith after confirmation yesterday that Geoff Moylan is stepping down following three years at the helm.
Good mates from their playing days together, Galwey is the first to admit that he has a tough act to follow.
Moylan's own achievements in the last three seasons puts him right up there with Niall O'Donovan in the pantheon of great Shannon coaches, having helped underline Shannon's status as the premier club in the country by guiding them to a further two All-Ireland League titles, three Munster Senior Cups, three Munster Senior Leagues and a Limerick Charity Cup.
By any standards, it is a phenomenal strike-rate, culminating in four wins from four finals last season, and Moylan admitted yesterday that he made the decision to step down reluctantly.
However, the birth of his son Jake - two days before last season's semi-final win over Belfast Harlequins - and a recent job-switch as a financial accountant at Bons Secours Hospital in Tralee to the Galway Clinic, left him with little realistic alternative.
"We've a new set-up with moving home and our first child, and I need to spend a bit of time house-hunting," said Moylan. "I could have gone on doing it, and had I still been in Kerry I probably would have, but I wouldn't be able to give it the time it needs. It's almost full-time to be honest.
"We've had great success in the last three years. It didn't come easy. A lot of hard work went into it from the other coaches in the club and the players," he added, citing the contributions of his assistant Dave Dineen and the first team manager Thady Coughlan, who is also stepping aside.
He maintained that frustrations with provincial call-ups and the continuing diminution of the AIL were not influential in his decision, although Moylan dropped a clear hint that had their been signs of a step on to the IRFU's professional coaching ladder he mightn't have made the career switch.
"To be honest, there was nothing happening for me in rugby so I had to make a decision about my career when this opportunity came along."
It would be a ridiculous shame if one of Irish rugby's outstanding indigenous talents was lost to the game and the hope will be that this will merely be a sabattical from coaching. Moylan will be in Dublin over the next two weekends to update his level three coaching badge, a clear signal that, as he says himself, "I'm definitely going to get back involved at some point."
Galwey confirmed that he will have to dilute his backroom involvement with Munster - at the very least to their Heineken Cup matches - but after also cutting his teeth as assistant coach at Carlow, he admitted that "this is the whole shooting match."
"But, basically, it's what I wanted. I didn't have to think very long about it. I've spent virtually all of my last 20 years in the game with Shannon. I've played with most of the players, I know the way the club operates, and I couldn't be going to a better place."
In that time, the 41-times capped Munster, Ireland and Lions' forward won six All-Ireland league titles and 10 Munster Senior Cup medals, also making him the most successful Irish club player of all time.
In light of Trevor Hogan, Tom Hayes, Brian Tuohy and Frankie Roche all being upgraded with Munster, Galwey admits that part of Shannon's remit is to continue what he calls "the escalator" production line of players for Munster.
Meanwhile, Newcastle have said Jonny Wilkinson is still on schedule to make his long-awaited return against Connacht at the Sportsground in their first pre-season friendly on Tuesday, August 17th.
Wilkinson hasn't played since aggravating a long-standing neck and shoulder problem in December, since when he's undergone surgery and a patient rehabilitation programme. He may also appear against Munster in Thomond Park three days later.
