Moves under way to decide Henry Shefflin's future with Galway after poor 2024

Moves are under way in Galway this week which could decide whether Henry Shefflin remains in charge of the Tribesmen for a fourth year.

Shefflin said in the aftermath of their shock Leinster SHC exit when they lost to Dublin on May 26 that he would take time to assess the situation.

The Galway county committee also wanted time to digest the premature championship exit amid a general belief that a major restructure of the squad will be required after this year.

There has not been any urgency in recent weeks to resolve the Galway team management position for 2025, not least as it is understood that some of the key personnel involved were away.

The draw for the Galway club championship this week, which gets under way on August 11, was viewed as the opportune time to deal with the matter.

And while it is understood delegates have not issued a mandate, it’s believed that the outcome will ultimately come down to whether Shefflin wants to stay or go.

He has spent the past three years commuting a few times a week from southern Kilkenny to Galway, managing family and work commitments in addition to the demands of being an inter-county management. Shefflin has an agreement to stay in charge of Galway until 2026 but said it was always his intention to review it after three years.

"It’s something after three years that I was always going to reassess, and that will be no different now,” Shefflin said after they were beaten by 2-27 to 1-24 by Dublin at Pearse Stadium on May 26.

“But I think today is not the day for that. I’m absolutely heartbroken because you put so much into this and we’ve thrown everything at it. It will hurt for a few days and just kind of take a break and just try and get back to normal after a few days and see how things lie at that stage. What we said in the dressing room was that we’d take a few days and don’t make a rash decision, and that’s the only logical thing.”

Delegates at the draw for the Galway club championship on Monday night were told that there may be developments on Shefflin’s future later this week.

Hurling committee chairman Claude Geoghegan, speaking on Galway Bay FM during the club championship draw, said there was considerable disappointment with their Leinster championship display and that moves were now under way to clarify the team management position.

“There’s no two ways about it, it was very disappointing and no one would be happy with the way it ended up,” said Geoghegan. “It is one we will look to consign and move on. Hopefully the inter-county players get back in with their clubs, get the confidence back to business and hopefully go again.

“The situation is that the county chair was away for a family event and also Henry was away since, but this week, by the end of this week we should know Henry’s intentions and we go from there.”

Get ahead of the day with the morning headlines at 7.30am and Fionnán Sheahan's exclusive take on the day's news every afternoon, with our free daily newsletter.