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Kevin Walsh calls for legislation against "cowardly" trolls pushing agendas

Galway manager Kevin Walsh spoke to Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh following their 2-13 to 1-13 los...



Kevin Walsh calls for legislat...
Football

Kevin Walsh calls for legislation against "cowardly" trolls pushing agendas

Galway manager Kevin Walsh spoke to Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh following their 2-13 to 1-13 loss to Mayo at the LIT Gaelic Grounds yesterday.

The defeat brings Galway’s summer to an end and means they will not compete in this year's Super 8s.

It may also bring an end to Kevin Walsh's 5th year in charge of the Tribesmen, with many speculating the two-time All-Ireland winner will now walk away from the set-up.

In the last five years, Galway have won two Connacht titles, lost two further Connacht finals to Roscommon in Salthill, lost All-Ireland quarter-finals to Tipperary and Kerry and a semi-final to Dublin.

There has been heavy criticism of the former midfielder's style of management and how he set this Galway team up to play.

Some traditionalists in the western county have been unhappy with how defensive minded his side has become and many have not just called for a return of free-flowing, attacking football but also for him to go.

Speculation is also rife that his former team-mate Pádraic Joyce, who is currently managing Galway's Under-20s, will get the top job sooner rather than later.

Walsh didn't hold back yesterday evening when discussing the critics, particularly those on social media.

“These lads have got a lot of stick over the past for all the wrong reasons and I think agendas being driven by cowardly people doesn’t help how referees referee games and doesn’t help people personally, they’re all volunteers.”

"We work very hard on the person, we try to do our job without fear, favour, malice or ill-will and that’s what we always do. Them four characteristics can be tough at times, unfortunately, the people driving agendas suffer a lot in those four quarters."

When asked about the criticism he personally faces he said: “I don’t actually listen to it too much if I can, but when you’ve five children in a family and cousins and uncles you’re going to hear a certain amount of it and it filters back in.”

Walsh also echoed Wexford Hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald's comments from during the week that online criticism has gone overboard and that legislation on trolling needed to be looked at.

"You’d like to see it abolished and some laws coming in on that kind of stuff… things being said by people sitting behind desks who are full of fear, no courage… and it’s the players and ordinary people just trying to do a job that suffer."

"Five years time God knows where it’s going to be."

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GAA Galway Kevin Walsh