Gort manager Mattie Murphy says the Galway hurlers should realise that games which the county lost in recent years were due to faults by the playing personnel rather than management.
The search for the successor to Shane O'Neill as Galway manager is ongoing with 2017 All-Ireland winning boss Micheál Donoghue, along with underage managers Jeff Lynskey and Brian Hanley, being names linked with the role.
Murphy managed the Galway seniors on two occasions, along with delivering numerous underage hurling All-Irelands for the county.
Mattie Murphy on next Galway hurling manager
"God, I don't know, somebody that would be fairly ruthless and that wouldn't take any, you know yourself, there are a lot of different adjectives that I can't use on air," Murphy told RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport when asked about who should be the next Galway manager.
"But the players need to realise that most of the matches we have lost in the last three or four years are because of them. Management didn't lose those couple of games.
"We have to drive on. We're after winning a lot of underage titles and maybe now is the time to go looking for a few of them lads and see have they [interest]. It's very hard to step up to the plate if you don't get an opportunity."
4 September 2011; Galway manager Mattie Murphy with the Irish Press Cup. All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship Final, Dublin v Galway, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit: Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE
Murphy's Gort side edged out Portumna 1-22 to 2-18 in a Galway SHC preliminary quarter-final on Sunday.
"You never underestimate Portumna," he said.
"A lot of the old lines are gone but they're finding seven or eight super hurlers. You'd have to say we were lucky to get out of dodge today. They hurled us left, right, and centre.
"We'd be saying that we had four, five, if not six lads that didn't perform as you would expect. We were lucky, we brought on five subs, and the five of them worked for us. We have a few young lads coming through and they gave us a good bit of energy."
Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
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