​By John Harrington

It is easy to imagine the apprehension Colm Galvin felt in March last year when he made his way to Clare hurling training intent on telling Davy Fitzgerald he wanted to leave the panel and go to Boston for the summer.

The Clare manager is so passionate about the game and pours so much of himself into the job that the thought of letting him down must be a nerve-wracking one for any player.

The fact that Galvin was sufficiently motivated to do so is a testament to how much he needed a break after four relentless seasons of inter-county hurling, but that didn’t make the job of breaking the news to his manager any easier.

“It was tough enough alright to tell the management team more so than make the flight arrangements,” says Galvin with a rueful smile. “It was tough for about two hours before training, but after that Davy...look, to be fair to him, I can't say a bad word, he took it fairly well. He was very good about it, he didn't have any negativity towards me, he was very positive.

“He said, look, if you want to come back in there would be no problem and that was a brilliant thing for him to have said. It made me go away with ease as well, it didn't make me not want to go back. So that's probably more of a reason why I came back as well after I went away.

“At the time I found it hard...I didn't actually find it hard to tell him, I found it hard to tell him when I was going because it was the middle of the league and I didn't want to be upsetting the camp. He kept it to himself for a while which was good, he didn't want to be upsetting the camp either.

“So we kept it between ourselves for a while. No, I suppose, it was just hard because I was after doing all the hard training and then you're making the decision to leave but he was very good about it. He said to me, 'if you want to come back in, that's grand' and luckily enough he was able to take me back in in June as well.”

In the end Galvin ended up staying in Boston for just two months. The moment he knew he wanted to come home was when he watched Limerick beat the Banner County by a point in the Munster Quarter-Final.

“The last two minutes I had my head in my hands,” says Galvin. “Because I felt that I could have brought something, even if it was a point or a pass or a pull, that they might have got over the line. It was very hard to watch it.”

By then he had gotten what he wanted from his American adventure. He enjoyed hurling in the sun with the Tipperary club and won two Cups along the way. Most importantly, the break from the hamster-wheel of inter-county training recharged batteries that had been drained dry.

“To be honest, I just wanted to go away and see a bit of the world,” says Galvin. “Because when you're playing at this level, you might see us training and playing matches in February, but we've four months work done at that stage. Whether you're with the team or on your own you're still training because at this level if you leave yourself go between September and Christmas and try to catch up in February then it's not going to happen. You have to keep yourself in line year in, year out.

“I'm only 23 now and this is my fifth year on the panel already, sixth year on the panel, so it's a lot of mileage on the clock but at the same time we're in a good place with Clare at the moment.”

Looking back now he realises his standards dropped slightly after Clare won the 2013 All-Ireland title. It wasn’t through any lack of physical effort, more a mental weariness which dulled his edge.

“It probably was, I was off a little bit anyway. We weren’t as a team putting in the same amount of hooks and blocks as we were in previous years. We weren’t making the same number of tackles. And when you don’t match the number of tackles as the Kilkennys, the Tipps and the Waterfords, you’re not going to win. It’s as simple as that. No matter how good a hurler you are, you’re not going to win. But when you do put in the workrate, when you do put in the tackling…the result nearly looks after itself.”

Galvin was not the only Clare player who suffered a slight dip in form after the 2013 All-Ireland Final. In hindsight, it’s no real surprise a number of them did. The effort to win three All-Ireland U-21 titles in a row and the ultimate prize of the Liam MacCarthy Cup in the space of three years was always going to take a toll. And the adulation that was showered on them followed quickly by greater level of expectation was likely to be difficult to deal with for young men as well.

Rather than factor those sums in to the equation, some in the county chose to look towards Davy Fitzgerald for the reason why these young Clare players suffered a slump in fortunes in 2014 and 2015. The accusation that the Clare manager was pushing his charges too hard and was too intense for his own good was one that was often made outside the camp, but it doesn’t sit well with Galvin.

“I suppose in the first year Davy took over we were sort of going, “This lad is mad!” but then the last year or two…you only see the side of Davy at the side of the field whereas Davy off the field is a very different character. Very calm, very mellow, very easy to talk to. You see him when he’s animated – it’s pure and utter passion. I’d say he has the biggest passion for the game that I’ve come across, and he brings that out in the players. Even after five years you wouldn’t be really sick of listening to him because he brings such passion to the table. And bringing in Donal Óg (Cusack) and Paul (Kinnerk) coming back was a very good idea by him.”

Shaking up his management team to such an extent was certainly an interesting move by Fitzgerald. He’s a strong personality but has surrounded himself by other strong personalities rather than take a ‘my way or the high way’ approach to management. The only question-mark was how well would so many coaches with strong opinions on the game be able to work in harmony together.

“They do (all have strong opinions)”, says Galvin. “But, to be honest, they work so well together. People were probably thinking “this is a recipe for disaster” but it hasn’t been. They both listen to each other’s opinions.

“Donal Óg mainly works with the backs. From the goalie’s view, he knows what’s going on. He’s very good tactically that way. Davy tries to work a bit more with the forwards so they don’t clash too much. But they both bring great ideas to the table, as does Paul (Kinnerk) and Aonghus O’Brien. They’re a great combination together.”

They’re certainly getting the best out of Galvin right now. The Clonlara man was superb in the Allianz League semi-final when he scored five points against Kilkenny and will be one to watch in Sunday's Final against Waterford. He needed a break from the game last year to renew himself in both body and mind, and it has clearly done the trick.

“Yeah, it was one of those games where things go right for you,” he says. “I’m starting to enjoy my hurling – as is everyone who wins. Once you start winning, players seem to want to win more and more. So yeah, it’s enjoyable to be able to play at the moment.”