Adrian Mullen has spoken of his “surprise” at his former club boss Henry Shefflin’s appointment in Galway.
Shefflin cut his management teeth with Ballyhale Shamrocks, guiding them to successive All-Ireland club titles in 2019 and ‘20 before stepping aside last year and it was essentially that performance which placed him high on Galway’s wanted list after Shane O’Neill’s departure earlier this year.
Local candidates Jeffrey Lynskey and Brian Hanley appeared to be the front runners along with former Waterford, Clare and Wexford manager Davy Fitzgerald before Shefflin came out of left field.
Mullen admitted: “There was plenty of surprise, especially here within Ballyhale. I suppose there was a bit of disappointment seeing him go because of what he done for us with Ballyhale, it was unbelievable.
“So from a Ballyhale point of view, I'd love to still have him with us but best of luck to him with what he does but I hope he doesn't win too much up there.”
Mullen has only spoken to Shefflin briefly since his appointment, minutes after Ballyhale’s recent county final win over O’Loughlin Gaels.
“I just met him on the pitch and he was just telling me how useless I was for the first 40 minutes and then I got that goal. But he's always there to give you a bit of advice if you need it so best of luck to him.”
With the Leinster round robin set to came back on stream next year, Shefflin’s Galway are guaranteed to cross paths with his native county in the 2022 Championship.
Mullen added: “Obviously it's going to be very interesting. We obviously know him very well as well and we know what he is going to bring to Galway as well so it'll be interesting if we meet.
“We know him very well and sure TJ [Reid] knows him well like so it'll be interesting to see and we'll see what happens.”
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