Paul Galvin knows what he wants in a player.
TG4’s Underdogs returned to our television screens after a ten year hiatus on Thursday night and it brought a new job for Kerry legend Paul Galvin.
Rather than throwing himself around the half forward line, the Lixnaw native was on the other side of the line for the first time and all the signs are that he was cut out for it.
A firm and authoritative voice, the respect the players from every corner of the country had for him was clear. When he spoke they listened, when his thick Kerry accent came to glorious life, they were learning.
They travelled from Antrim and from Donegal, they came from Sligo and Tipperary, some to a GAA field in Trim and some to a GAA field in Celbridge.
Their aim was to ignite their gaelic football careers once more. The one requirement of an Underdog, that you haven’t played inter-county gaelic football before in your life.
Galvin set out his intentions from minute one..
“To be a selector, the game’s in front of you, you’re not in the middle of it. I am able to do it,” he said confidently.
He’s alongside Galway and Cork legends Ray Silke and Valerie Mulcahy to pick a team of club players who’ll be able to take on the might of an inter-county after a few months of their training.
And they had plenty of talent at their disposal at the trials. A certain Fintan Ó Cuanaigh from An Spideal, Galway stood out as did Darragh Ó’Shea, a Kerry man with a famous name.
Conor McKenna made the journey all the way from county Antrim. For this writer, he was one of the show’s standout characters. His club are a small one which keeps him out of sight and out of mind from the county team but he grew up with these boys and he’s not content to leave them.
He impressed Galvin and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares as the show develops.
Galvin spoke of being on the hunt for a player with something different in them, something that will change a game when it comes down to it.
And when he spotted that, you could just see by his face and by his body language that he was lapping it up.
“I like him,” he’d say, “he has it.”
The type of player he’s looking for. A ‘tasty’ player.
On numerous occasions, attention turned to Galvin enveloped in the game from the sidelines and his common response to a player that impressed him.
“Aw I’ll tell you he’s tasty this fella.”
And he shows when he’s not impressed either.
“He always looks like he’s going to do something, but he does nothing,” he said of one player.
By the end, Silke, Mulcahy and Galvin picked their squad. The anticipation builds for next week’s show already.
