FARR FROM HOME

Ex-Galway boss Cyril recalls the commute from hell..

- PAT NOLAN

HENRY SHEFFLIN faces an unenviably long commute from Ballyhale to Galway as he strives to build a team to win an All-Ireland.

But Cyril Farrell had an even longer trek when he set about the same task well over 40 years ago.

Remarkably, he was doing it the same age Shefflin was when he won the seventh of his 10 All-Irelands as a player.

"I was 30 in 1980, recalled Farrell. "I was training Galway in 1979 when Babs Keating was coach and then took over completely in 1980.

"I was in Dublin teaching in St Joseph's Fairview. The age thing never hit me. There might have been one or two lads older on the team. It never dawned on me.

"I'd leave Dublin at around 4.15 and you wouldn't be back until around two in the morning. There were no motorways then, you went through every town, Kilbeggan, Moate. Three and a half hours down.

"We used to do Tuesday, Thursday and the weekend. It never dawned on us to switch from Thursday to Friday when we would have been coming down anyway." In 1980, he famously masterminded Galway's first All-Ireland in 57 years when they beat Limerick.

The Tribe looked on course to retain the title the following year before being reeled in by an Offaly comeback.

At that stage, with the drive starting to grate, Farrell stepped aside.

He said: "I was still in Dublin. I had one or two fellas going down [to Galway for training] with me.