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Éamonn Fitzmaurice attending the 2026 All-Ireland football final. Tom Maher/INPHO
From The 42managerial coup
Éamonn Fitzmaurice confirmed as new Galway football manager
Fitzmaurice was a highly prominent figure in the Jim Gavin-chaired Football Review Committee.
GALWAY HAVE COMPLETED a sensational swoop by announcing the appointment of Éamonn Fitzmaurice as the county’s senior football manager on a three-year term.
A 2014 All-Ireland-winning boss with his native Kerry, Fitzmaurice takes over following Pádraic Joyce’s seven-year stint.
Media Release: Galway Senior Football Manager
— Galway GAA Official (@Galway_GAA) September 30, 2026
Galway GAA Management Committee is recommending Éamonn Fitzmaurice as the new Senior Football Manager for a three-year term.
Éamonn achieved the rare feat of winning Sam Maguire as a player and a manager with Kerry.
He enjoyed a… pic.twitter.com/hi0ZtVNkih
“We are delighted to appoint a manager of Éamonn’s calibre to lead the Galway senior footballers for the next three years,” said Galway GAA chairperson Paul Bellew.
“Éamonn’s record as both a player and a manager speaks for itself, while his recent role as a member of the Football Rules Committee underlined the positive influence he continues to have on Gaelic football.”
The 49-year-old school principal spent six years in charge of Kerry before departing in 2018.
He has remained in the public eye, coaching the Clifford brothers’ club Fossa to an All-Ireland Junior title, working as a pundit in RTÉ’s championship coverage, and writing an Irish Examiner column.
In September, he helped his home club, Finuge, to win the Kerry Premier Junior Championship.
Most notably, Fitzmaurice was a highly prominent figure in the Jim Gavin-chaired Football Review Committee, which oversaw the introduction of Gaelic football’s new rules.
He will now get to manage under those rules with a genuine Sam Maguire contender, taking the reins of a Galway side which reached the 2022 and 2024 All-Ireland finals.
They lost the initial final to Kerry, shortly after which Fitzmaurice indicated he would be loath to manage a county beyond his own, albeit adding “you never say never”.
His task is to make the most of a Galway generation that endured a disappointing end to 2026, denied a five-in-a-row of Connacht titles before bowing out against Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
Fitzmaurice won three All-Irelands as a player before turning to management. He was a selector under Jack O’Connor as Kerry won national honours in 2009 before leading his school, Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, to back-to-back Hogan Cup titles at Croke Park.
As Kerry chief from 2013 to 2018, he also won a National League and six consecutive Munster titles.
Galway’s most recent All-Irelands, in 1998 and 2001, were delivered by Mayo native John O’Mahony, while their last outside manager was another Kerryman, Tomás Ó Flatharta, in 2011.
“I want to acknowledge and thank everyone who took part in the process over the past number of weeks,” Bellew added.
“We now look forward to working closely with Éamonn, the players and the wider team as we begin the next chapter for Galway football.
“Éamonn’s management and backroom team will be finalised over the coming weeks.”
Written by Stephen Barry and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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