Ray Silke: 'I wouldn't have won an All-Ireland in 1998 without Paul McGettigan'

There’s always a moment in a player’s life where they take a sudden pause and feel the winds of change.  

For Galway’s 1998 All-Ireland winning captain Ray Silke, that moment occurred in the sanctity of the Corofin dressing room on a cold winter’s night in January 1997, when former Donegal player, and then Corofin joint manager Paul McGettigan issued a rallying call to his team about their future.  

For Silke, it was the night everything changed for him.  

“Thinking back now all those years, there’s no question that Paul McGettigan was a massive factor in Corofin winning the All-Ireland club title in 1998,” Silke said.  

“I remember about 14 months before we won the All-Ireland, we were in the dressing room one winter’s night, and it was the night I was named captain by the players, and I’ll never forget Paul talking about us winning the All-Ireland club title in 1998 and the image of me going up to collect the trophy.  

“So, he was talking about that, 14 months before it happened. But that was Paul, he’s such a positive individual. I used to travel with him to training and you wouldn’t lack self-belief with him around. He was ahead of his time in terms of sports psychology because the glass was always half full with him, in football and in life.”  

McGettigan’s tour de force is as legendary as the man himself. Alongside Donegal captain Patrick McBrearty he is regarded as the first man to play a championship minor and senior game in the one day back in 1974.  

His travels would take him to work in Galway in the mid-70s where he ended up playing for the Tribesmen for several seasons before returning in 1983 to Donegal where he would land an Anglo Celt title and a Donegal senior championship with his native St Eunan’s that year.  

His managerial philosophy centered around the idea of treating players like exotic birds that cannot be caged.  

To Silke, he was one of the game's great mavericks – a figure ahead of his time, but far from any popinjay.  

And while Corofin were far from a team in the doldrums when McGettigan entered the senior scene in the mid-90s as a manager, Silke describes him as the man with the courage to take Corofin to that next step as they hunted for All-Ireland glory.   

“We lost two All-Ireland semi-finals in 1992 and 1995, so we were never too far away, but when Paul came in at the end of ‘95 he added a bit of ‘je ne sais quoi’,” Silke admitted.   

“He was a bit of a maverick because it takes balls to come out and start talking about winning an All-Ireland, something we never won before, and he was talking about it, 14 months beforehand.   

“I think alongside his people skills, he was a very good man in terms of reading a game, seeing what’s not working, and moving players around to fix the team. He was never afraid to make those changes.  

“He did that in the All-Ireland semi-final in 1998 against Dungiven when we played a sweeper role, which wasn’t a big thing back then, but we did it to stop the supply of ball going into Joe Brolly, and it completely cut Joe out of the game in the second half.”  

For brilliant ex-players, management can sometimes force them to walk between a tightrope of hubris and impatience. The failure to understand how the fundamentals of the game which came so naturally to the manager when he played, flows less freely to his team.  

But for McGettigan, his role was never to undermine. As told by Silke, his management saw him as a fundamentally humble character. He understood that great players don’t arrive with a special license into management.  

“I can’t describe enough how positive Paul was about life. He always found the positive in everything, it’s like he had an inner sense of peace that’s hard to define,” the former Galway captain said.   

“I think as a manager I always knew Paul had ours backs and that’s worth a lot. He would do anything for his players, he just had that kindness about him that players respond to.   

“Back then, it was the done thing for a manager to shout and roar at players, but that wasn’t Paul. He thought that positive energy was the best method for players to play well.  

“That positive energy and risk-taking he had in his management, he also had in life. Paul worked for the HSE for years but he left and went back to do law and is now a very successful barrister in Galway, and you can only respect someone for taking that risk.  

“Loads of people in life are content enough to be a square peg in a round hole and do something they don’t really like doing, but Paul never settled for just being content and it’s such a great way to live life.  

“When we would meet up the night before a big game, Paul was a man who lifted the conversation to a higher level than the mundane and had a great sense of wonder.”  

Silke would finish the 1998 season as captain of two All-Ireland winning sides, with both Corofin and Galway, bringing Sam Maguire west of the Shannon for the first time since 1966.  

The then captain spoke on behalf of the Galway team that day in September 1998 by thanking all the help and support for the maroon and white that season.  

On a personal level, McGettigan was never far from his mind as the man who mentally supported him up the steps of the Hogan Stand that day.  

“When I made the Galway team, Paul would often chat to me about controlling my nerves and being positive. I would often go out of my way to speak to Paul before big matches just to get advice and look for positive feedback,” Silke admitted.  

“I lived just a few estates away from him, so I used to go up to his house, we’d sit in his car and just talk about football and about life and I’ll tell anybody, that you would not spend a better hour than in the company of Paul McGettigan.  

“He was a man that was always aiming for higher things. When we won the Connacht club final that year, I remember after the game Paul came into the room, he got the cup, put it under the table, and said he had no interest in that cup and that we were better than that. He was aiming for bigger things.”  

Silke captured another All-Ireland in 2001 with Galway, while Corofin began to build their dynasty out west.  

They were not slow to absorb the changing tactics of the modern game in the 2000s as the players adapted to them.  

For Silke, he crossed many individuals in his life, but the man from Letterkenny was one of the most important.  

“There was a priest in school who coached me for years and was my teacher for five years, he and Paul McGettigan would’ve been the two biggest influences in my career. They rounded me as an individual and as a footballer,” he said.  

“I just think time spent in Paul McGettigan’s company is time well spent, and every time I walked away from his company, I felt better about myself and I felt better about the world. He was just an inspiration.  

“Would Corofin have won the All-Ireland or would I have won the All-Ireland in 1998 without Paul McGettigan? Probably not.”