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Micheal Donoghue tells us about the touching embrace with his father that resonated so much

It's about six weeks now since Galway ended their long All Ireland hurling drought and for manage...



Micheal Donoghue tells us abou...
Football

Micheal Donoghue tells us about the touching embrace with his father that resonated so much

It's about six weeks now since Galway ended their long All Ireland hurling drought and for manager Micheal Donoghue the achievement is just sinking in fully.

Speaking to Off The Ball's John Duggan on The Last Word on Today FM, Clarinbridge club man touched on the reaction he and the team have received from supporters in the interim.

"Obviously in the build up to the game, you're in a bubble just in your preparation and I suppose, you never really anticipate what's going to happen after you win it but it's just been unbelievable from all our perspectives," 

"The reception we got in the immediate aftermath of the game was just unbelievable and I think we're just now getting appreciation to what it has meant to people and people always talk about if you achieve the All Ireland success, it really does give the county a lift and we're really all experiencing that now."

But there is a different terrain now for Galway and their rivals when it comes to battling for the Liam McCarthy Cup in 2018. Recent changes made at Congress mean the Leinster Championship - Munster too - will be played out in a round robin format which means two home games and two away games guaranteed. 

Is Donoghue in favour of the new format?

"I think Galway were the big winners. I think we've been touting for the last number of years looking for home games for Galway so we're eagerly anticipating the draw now to see who we get in Galway for those two games," said Donoghue.  

Galway manager Micheal Donoghue shows the Liam McCarthy to his father Miko Donoghue and mother Margaret for the first time in Ballinasloe ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Donoghue also spoke warmly of his father whose joy at the All Ireland win was immortalised in the photo above in which he was presented with the cup by his son the day after the Croke Park triumph. 

"Like any father, he was one of my greatest influences. He was very involved with us growing up in sport and at home and unfortunately he was diagnosed with dementia around the same time that I got the Galway job," he said.

"He was an avid GAA supporter. He was heavily involved at club and at county level. Obviously the disappointment from my own perspective and the family's perspective is that he probably couldn't comprehend it in the way we would have liked and once we won it, it was very important to me how I was going to go about meeting him and the rest of the family, especially when they weren't with us there on Sunday to share it.

"The way it came about, look, from my own personal perspective, I probably would have preferred it just in a more private environment."   

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