Rob Finnerty pictured ahead of the All-Ireland SFC Final. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
By Cian O'Connell
A couple of hundred yards from the house he grew up in, Rob Finnerty sits to chat about representing Galway in an All-Ireland SFC Final.
The press event takes place 10 days before an eagerly anticipated encounter with Armagh, but Finnerty is cool, calm, and collected. Football was always meant to be fun.
His father Anthony, the cherished former Mayo forward, spent hours working with school and club teams featuring his son, who flourished from an early age.
Sport dominates the discussions. "We would talk a lot about football, but it’s more things nowadays – we wouldn’t really talk about 1989 or the past too much.
"To be fair, he doesn’t really like to bring it up or talk about himself too often, we prefer to talk about games that are happening now – local club games or whatever.
"We both have a big interest in football, but a lot of it would be about what’s happening at the minute.”
The underage training mattered deeply as Finnerty enjoyed a silverware laden spell in the juvenile ranks with Salthill-Knocknacarra under his father's care. “He’s been a massive influence," Finnerty says.
Rob Finnerty has been in excellent form for Galway in 2024. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
"He took my Salthill team the whole way up – John Maher was involved in that team as well, we’re the same age – and we played the whole way up together with my dad managing us.
“He had a massive impact – working on my skills with me all the time, it was great.”
Similar to Finnerty, Maher has been an influential figure for Galway in 2024. "With Salthill, the whole up we’d have won everything and that went the whole way through to minor – we won two Connacht minor titles together," Finnerty recalls.
"John was always a massive cog in that team and he went straight into the senior team at Salthill and had an impact straight away. He’s always been a serious footballer.
“He was asked into Galway panels, but didn’t commit straight away because he was doing different things. From the day he did come in he’s had an impact.”
A man that had many positive words with Maher and Finnerty, John O'Mahony recently passed away. O'Mahony brought organisation, a sense of purpose, and a willingness to develop young talent to Salthill.
“I was one of the few lads on the Galway panel, who was lucky enough to work with ‘Johno’ and he had a massive impact on me personally – even just as a person let alone as a footballer," Finnerty responds.
Anthony Finnerty in action for Mayo against Cork in the 1989 All-Ireland SFC Final. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
"He was great and he meant a lot to all of us. In Salthill, he came in and he almost changed the culture in the club.
"He had a huge impact on our team in a short period of time and he brought that belief to a dressing room. Straight away, from the day we met him, we knew we had an opportunity to go and contest the Frank Fox anyway and we almost won it.
“My dad always spoke very highly of him and he trained him as well.”
What did O'Mahony teach Finnerty? “Small nuggets that you get off coaches," Finnerty replies.
"Small things, he played me in a deeper role at Salthill, kind of a play-making role at times and he was the first person to do that with me.
"That’s something he had seen in me, that maybe other coaches hadn’t and we spoke a lot about that and about kick-passing and things like that. He had a great effect on me.”
Now, Finnerty, a primary school teacher in Scoil Bhríde, Shantalla, is eager to assist and inspire the next generation.
