Paul Galvin to join Kildare backroom team as forwards coach

The former Kerry footballer will link up with manager Glenn Ryan and his coaching team as they seek to consolidate their position as a Division 1 team in the coming weeks.

Ironically, Kildare’s first league game is against Galvin’s home county Kerry who are now managed by Jack O’Connor, the man who gave Galvin – a four-time All-Ireland winner and former Footballer of the Year – his inter-county football break in 2004 and who was in charge of Kildare last year.

Galvin is working with a backroom team that already includes Ryan as manager and his former playing colleagues Johnny Doyle, Dermot Earley, Anthony Rainbow and Brian Lacey.

He was briefly an inter-county manager with Wexford in 2020 but stepped down before taking charge of a championship match when he moved to take up residence in Mayo, his wife’s home county, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s understood he was approached to come on board with Peter Keane in a coach/selector capacity with Kerry last year.

Keane wanted to add Galvin in the wake of their Munster Championship exit to Cork but the obvious logistical challenges of being based in Mayo that influenced his Wexford decision also applied to Kerry.

Galvin’s former Kerry colleague Tomás Ó Sé is involved as a coach with neighbouring Offaly for this season while another colleague from his days with the Kingdom, Kieran Donaghy, will spend a second year with Armagh.

Kerry coaching connections with Kildare run deep of course, with Mick O’Dwyer the last manager to guide the county to a provincial title in 2000, their second in three years.

Kildare got off to a good start in the O’Byrne Cup with wins over Westmeath and Carlow before last night’s loss to Laois via a penalty shootout, but one of their most experienced forwards, Paddy Brophy, will not be involved in 2022, and there are doubts over Niall Kelly’s future too.