GAA.ie sat down with 2024 GAA/GPA PwC Footballer of the Year, Paul Conroy.

By Cian O’Connell

Q: It must be a great honour to be named Footballer of the Year ?

Paul Conroy: Yeah, definitely, it is a bit surreal to be honest. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. When you look at the calibre of players that have won this before, and even the calibre of players that are receiving awards and aren’t receiving awards tonight, it is definitely a massive honour. It is something I’m very proud of, I’m very proud of the people, who put work into you at underage. My club St James’ and for my family, too, it is a nice touch, and something lovely to get.

Q: That is an important part, at a certain time, you have to think about those who helped. Your Dad was an influential figure in the development of the club and others?

PC: Yeah, definitely. In the GAA you’ve so many volunteers, people put so much time into you. When you’re a bit younger you don’t really appreciate that. You’re just getting on with it and enjoying your sport. When you get a bit older, you look back, and on a night like tonight, when you’re getting a big award, you might get messages off previous coaches or teachers, you definitely appreciate it. For me, it is a massive honour, and it is still a bit surreal.

Q: For Galway city to have three footballers receiving All-Stars is a remarkable thing?

PC: It goes to show you the work that is being done in different clubs. Salthill-Knocknacarra are a massive club, to get two All-Stars from the one club is special. For myself, from St James’, to be the first All-Star from St James’, that is really good. It means a lot. It is really important to motivate young lads and young girls, whether it be in the county or in your club, to see that it is possible. If you put in the work, they can all get here.

Q: When you went to St Mary’s College, you played on good teams, and Liam Sammon, the first man that brought you into a Galway senior panel, how influential was that time for you?

PC: I was blessed in St Mary’s, I had Liam Sammon for five years coaching me. I had him for PE and I had him as a coach too. I learned so much from him. When I finished up in school, he was the manager of the Galway seniors at the time. I remember him ringing me, asking me to come in. That is a very special for any player, when you get called up to a senior team. I was very young at the time, but it is something I look back on fondly. I learned an awful lot at the time off Liam, any player that ever played under him, they will tell you how good of a coach he is. If I still see him today, I’d still have a great chat with him, he is someone I’m very grateful for, definitely.

Q: You are there since playing with Galway. It is a commitment, and you’re going to keep playing in 2025, but has your perspective changed? With a young family, is it very different to back in 2008?

PC: I think when you’re 18 going in, you’re just kinda on a high. You don’t look at things the way you might when you’re a bit older. I think when you’re young like that, you’re very carefree. Then, maybe as you get on in years the pressure might come on a bit. We struggled a lot of years with Galway in terms of our form. Things weren’t going overly well. I suppose, I’m glad, and look back fondly on sticking it out through a lot of tough years. You always feel that you will turn the corner, and you are building. There was a lot of underage success, things like that. It probably took me a bit longer than I expected to get an All-Star, but look it is great to get one, and Footballer of the Year too is something very special. We’re very lucky that we’ve such a strong team at the moment, your team mates get you this far really. A couple of individuals are picked from that team performance. Thankfully, at the moment we’ve five All-Stars tonight, and maybe five two years ago. It is nice to see those individual accolades, it gives everyone else on the panel a lift too. It gives everyone a boost of confidence.

Q: Perseverance is important for any sportsperson. For Galway to be relevant again nationally matters?

PC: 100 per cent, even when you think of kids going to games with their parents. They want to be going to the big games at Croke Park. The boys and girls want to be looking at their heroes as such. Obviously, we didn’t get over the line this year, but we did have three outings in Croke Park, we got over the line in two of them. It is really important to be one of the teams that is looking at themselves at the start of the year as realistic people, who can take home silverware. Thankfully, in the last few years we’ve definitely earned that right, to be one of the top teams, to be a Division One team which is good. For a good while we weren’t, we were middle of Division Two, and at times dicing with relegation. So, things definitely have improved.

Q: Padraic Joyce and his backroom team, their influence, and looking ahead what Mickey Graham and David Morris might bring?

PC: It is important to note that Cian O’Neill put three long years into us. He was travelling up from Cork, the amount of energy and effort that would have taken. He is an excellent coach, he has moved to Kerry now, they are delighted to get him. He was brilliant. It is good at the same time, to freshen things up too, whether it be a coach, manager or a selector, it can be good to hear a new voice. I look forward to working with Mickey Graham and David Morris. Mickey has a great record and you hear nothing, but positive things about him.

Q: You’re always willing to learn?

PC: 100 per cent, I think the day you think you know everything, you’re in a bit of bother. You pick up things all the time, you pick them up when you’re 12 or 13, and you pick them up when you’re 34 or 35. I think if you have that mindset, it is a big plus. If you think you know it all, you’re in a bit of bother.

Q: Can you give an insight into being all in for sport?

PC: Even for yourself, taking sport out of it, if you’re spending so much time in a set-up, whether it be hurling, football, ladies football or camogie, whatever it is, the amount of time and hours that goes into that, it wouldn’t make any sense not to be fully committed. So, that is where I’m coming from. You miss out on an awful lot of things, family events, weddings, birthdays because of inter-county football or hurling. To make the gains, first of all you’ve to be fully committed physically and mentally. I think maybe that takes a while for some players, I’m not sure. Once you do, and put the effort in, you start seeing the rewards. An old principal used to say to us, you get out of something what you put into it. I remember that from secondary school. That is the same with inter-county. To be fair to yourself and your team mates, you have to be fully committed.

Q: So, there is joy in the journey? You wouldn’t do it unless you loved it?

PC: 100 per cent, I’ve often said that. I love going training, I have for the last whatever amount of years. A good, hard training session or hard game, the feeling after, the sense of achievement, the friends you make, it is all in the journey. I’ve been on this journey a while now. It is very enjoyable, and as I always say, if I wasn’t enjoying it, you couldn’t keep doing it.

Q: Is the pride element still there, playing for Galway and St James’?

PC: I think it is just a trait I have in me, even from when I was very young, when I started playing football at age five or six, I just enjoyed training, sport. I’d be competitive. I feel I’m at a good level in terms of my body. My body has been very good to me, obviously I had one bad injury, but my body has been holding up down through the years. You’ve to respect your body, to look after yourself, it has been going okay. A night like tonight, you appreciate everything, you appreciate the people who put the effort into you, and even the effort you put in yourself. It is nice to be rewarded on an individual basis even though it is a team sport.

Q: The sacrifices others make for you are key really?

PC: 100 per cent, it might take you a while to realise that. You mightn’t realise that when you’re playing U16, U15 or U14, but as you get older you realise the amount of time people put into you. It is important for them to enjoy nights like tonight.

By Cian O’Connell

Cathal Clancy smiles about the madness and relentlessness of it all. That Maigh Cuilinn have remained relevant is a source of considerable pride.

On Sunday, Maigh Cuilinn contest a fourth Bon Secours Galway SFC Final in five years against Corofin. Consistency has been attained, but out west there is rarely a tougher test than a match against Corofin, regardless of the grade or level.

Valuable lessons have been learned by Clancy during Maigh Cuilinn’s splendid recent spell. “It is nice, it is new to me, it is my first year as manager, but I have been there in the background with this team since 2018,” Clancy explains.

“When Don Connellan was manager, I was there doing all sorts of roles – coaching, analysis, carrying the water sometimes. The experience of the county final thing isn’t that new, but I’m finding with the management side there is a whole lot of other stuff just like tonight that comes.

“It is good, it is exciting, and it is our fourth one now in five years. As a group we are well used to it, but each ones brings something new with it.”

Maigh Cuilinn’s rise has been remarkable and swift. Talented footballers have always represented the club and subsequently Galway, but the current crop continue to deliver. “1977 was when Moycullen had previously got to a semi-final or final when we reached the semi-final in 2019, 42 years,” Clancy remarks.

“I played from the late 90s and a lot of the 2000s, we got to a couple of quarter-finals, we couldn’t even win one. Now, to have just been in our sixth semi-final in a row, our fourth final in five years, it is mad.

“It is something we’re embracing, we’re kind of getting used to it, and we hope it will stay around for a good while to come yet. You just have to make them count when they come along. On Sunday that is what we’re looking to do.”

Under Connellan’s shrewd guidance Maigh Cuilinn emerged as a force in Galway football. Clancy has also been on the line with Connellan and Maurice Sheridan with accomplished University of Galway outfits in the Sigerson Cup. “I’ve had a great tutelage in the last few years,” Clancy responds.

“Having played for Maigh Cuilinn, I fell into the management side. I was looking after an U21 that Seán Kelly and Peter Cooke were on in 2017. That led me to take on the juniors and getting involved in the seniors with Don in 2018.

“Through that I got to learn so much with Don. Then, in the Sigerson with Maurice Sheridan. Anyone that goes into coaching or managing, they take a little bit along the way from people they’ve been under or seen. So, you’re just trying to take the best bits that you can.”

Coaching assistance has been provided in 2024 by former Donegal footballer Mark McHugh, who has been involved with Maigh Cuilinn. “Mark has been a brilliant influence on us this year, he has been a huge addition,” Clancy remarks.

“The connection is that David Wynne, our captain, went to college with Mark McHugh. That was our connection at the start of the year, Mark was with Roscommon last year, he was taking a break away from the inter-county scene.

“He got involved with us, he still played with his club all year. He never missed a game for Kilcar. He did one night every week with us and every second weekend.”

McHugh will return to the inter-county arena with Westmeath, who recently appointed Dermot McCabe as manager. In Maigh Cuilinn the respect for McHugh runs deep. “What he has brought has just been brilliant,” Clancy adds.

“He brings enthusiasm, he has a great way about him, the lads love him. He probably brings that bit of a northern influence too, which is needed sometimes. Kieran Murphy and myself are still involved from the regime over the last few years, just to have that bit of freshness was super.

“He is now going in with Westmeath, but he is fully committed to us. As long as we keep playing football, Mark McHugh will still be coming down from Kilcar and we are delighted with that.”

As a native Clancy has seen how Moycullen has developed as a place. Undoubtedly, that brings different challenges, but one thing is for certain: sport will be on the agenda.

This week, the dynamic Julie Ann-Russell features for the Republic of Ireland senior international team against Georgia. Her brother, John, manages Sligo Rovers and was an accomplished underage Gaelic footballer back in the day.

Others with strong connections to the area like Vinny Faherty and Iarfhlaith Daveron starred on the League of Ireland stage. Moycullen’s thriving basketball club has contributed enormously to the local community. “In one sense Moycullen is growing the whole time, it is a different village in many ways than it was 20 or 25 years ago,” Clancy explains.

“We’ve seen that reflected in the teams that have come up. The other side of it is there is a huge amount of work being done by the club at underage level in the last 20 years. You’ve lots of areas around the city that are growing.

“I think it is a tribute to the club. Our juvenile club with Dermot Cullen as the current chairman, the senior club has Seán Houlihan as the chairman. The work that goes in is Trojan. The thing about Moycullen is that it is a very sporty place.

“Just because the place is growing doesn’t mean they will all play football. Right now, we have the likes of John Russell managing in the League of Ireland, his sister is playing, we’ve a basketball team competing at national level, Dylan Tierney-Martin is playing for Connacht Rugby, Fiona Murtagh was in the Olympics, it is a very sporty place with so much going on.

“Our hurlers are a Senior A team. To have two senior teams – we are growing, but it isn’t a massive pool – it is a tribute to the work that goes on across the clubs in the parish. Long may it continue.”

Everywhere you turn in the Maigh Cuilinn panel, a footballer has featured at inter-county level, underage or senior. Four years ago Maigh Cuilinn triumphed, but they haven’t drifted. “We won the first one in 2020 and won again in 2022, going all the way to an All-Ireland semi-final,” Clancy says.

“It is just something you can see within this group, there is a massive, massive hunger to keep it going. It has been aided by a lot of younger lads coming in. If you go back over the 2020 team versus now, you’ve a lot of the same lads still playing, but we’ve a lot of new lads coming in too.

“We won a county minor title in 2022, I was involved in, and they are all starting to filter through. Seán O’Connor has played some games this year, he came on the last day, he started the first day against Dunmore, we’ve loads of other young lads coming through. They’re learning from all of this in the senior group.”

A solid foundation has been established. Maigh Cuilinn want to keep competing for silverware in Galway. “No more than Corofin have done over the years, we are hoping to pass on and keep it going,” Clancy acknowledges. “We didn’t want to just win one in 2020 and be gone again.

“Even just being in our sixth semi-final does show a level of consistency over the years. Ultimately, it is about winning the big one really.”

An interesting match beckons at Tuam Stadium.