With one game of intercounty football left on the schedule, the GAA managerial roundabout is about to fire into motion. One of the more intriguing vacancies is in Cavan, as Mickey Graham stepped away from the role earlier in the month. Cavan will be playing Division Two football next year and have an inside track on playing the Sam Maguire round-robin.
And though it's early doors, one of the more intriguing candidates to seek an intercounty management role this year has put his hand up for the role - current captain of Cavan, Raymond Galligan.
Paul Fitzpatrick today reported that the Lacken goalkeeper is one of three men shortlisted to replace Graham.
At 36-years-old, Raymond Galligan is one of the country's longest-serving inter-county players. Having made his inter-county debut in 2006 Galligan has been a member of the Cavan squad for seventeen years.
However, Galligan wasn't always the netminder. When he made his national league debut in 2010, Galligan was an astute forward scoring 10 points that day. He continued playing outfield until the 2014 season before he transitioned to goalkeeper, with National Leagues, Ulster Championships and an All-Star all following.
As captain and goalkeeper Galligan has led Cavan to the 2020 Ulster Championship as well as back-to-back League wins in Division Four and Three in 2022 and 2023 as well as an All-Star for his own mantlepiece.
His own leadership qualities are obvious but his experience in management is nil.
Who's Raymond Galligan up against?
However, before Galligan takes over the role he'll have to see off both former Clare manager Micheál McDermott and former Cavan forward Jason O'Reilly who were both named on the shortlist as well.
With the list whittled down to the top three names, the Cavan County board will appoint a sub-committee whose job will be to recommend one of the three shortlisted names.
If Galligan was to beat McDermott and O'Reilly to the role, questions still remain as to how it might work. At the moment Galligan is still both the team's goalkeeper and captain and has not announced any plans to retire.
However, should he be successful in his bid to manage the county it's hard to know if both roles would still be tenable given the demands of intercounty football.
Regardless of all that - Galligan will always be one of Cavan's finest and has brought great days to the county. He may be trying to bring more famous days to the county in a new role in 2024.
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