Gary O’Donnell’s back story reads the like the set up of the GAA’s first foray into an American fish out of water style sitcom. Just imagine the cheesey American voice over “he plays centre back for the Galway footballers but he’s from the hurling heartland of Gort” and cue the funny clips of Galway fans expressing their shock.
On it’s own that sounds like a flimsy premise on which to base a series although those who remember Upwardly Mobile will tell you that there have been weaker. Throw in the fact that his parents are from Mayo and ahead of this Connacht semi final you’ve got yourself some comedy.
When we speak to O’Donnell he has the air of a man who knows what’s coming when the Mayo link is brought up. “That seems to come up every time this game comes up. In fairness every time Galway play Mayo, maroon and white is the dominant colour in the house”.
So how does a man from the hurling stronghold of Gort become a Galway footballer? As is the case with so many players he was influenced by a mixture of enthusiastic teachers and All Ireland success. “When I was younger I played all the sports in particular hurling and football but I was lucky enough to have a Principal in Primary School that was from Connemara called Peter Conroy and a man called Kevin Roche who put a huge emphasis on football in the area“.
It makes any teacher’s job easier to motivate kids to play a sport if they have local heroes and when O’Donnell was growing up the Tribesmen weren’t short on them. “Galway had a huge success in the nineties and early naughties when I was quite young, obviously they were a huge driving force to stay playing football. Going to all the games made me determined to push on even though a lot of my friends were playing hurling at the time”.
Sunday see’s Kevin Walsh manage Galway for the first time in a Championship clash with Mayo. A mixed Division 2 campaign has been followed by wins over New York and Leitrim in the Connacht championship and O’Donnell admits their form has been inconsistent. ”I know we’ve had two victories but we wouldn’t be happy with our form to date. We probably did enough to get over the line against New York and Leitrim but we’re under no illusions the way we played won’t be good enough to beat Mayo on Sunday”.
You can hear our chat with Gary O’Donnell on the Monday Rewind, while James Horan will provide coverage of the game for Off the Ball this Sunday.
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