On Friday night last our ‘A’ team paid a lovely tribute to Gerry Moran on his retirement as ‘A’ team manager and the role of Football Facilitator within the club. The night was planned as a ‘surprise’ to present him with a small token for all he has done for the club but of course the man himself had ‘decked’ it on the night. Ex-player Ollie Crowe & current team captain Jayo Finn both paid glowing tributes to the icon himself who was one of the founding members of the club in 1982. A fantastic man with extreme vision and probably Colemanstown’s biggest soccer personality in the local world of soccer; if you talk about Gerry Moran anywhere in Galway soccer circles everyone knows who he is! In his tribute, Ollie Crowe recalled some memories of his early soccer years under the management of Gerry and gave a great anecdote of various promotions, demotions, cup finals etc. He commented on the personal relationship he had with all players and his knowledge of everyone’s soccer strengths, his long term plan for the club and his founding of the underage structure. Jayo Finn on behalf of the ‘A’ team players presented Gerry with a lovely garden bench, specially inscribed, and a Galway Utd season ticket. He spoke of Gerry’s aspirations for every player to reach their full potential even if it meant transferring to a higher profile club as in Jayo’s case when he transferred to Belvedere, Dublin; a club which afforded Jason the opportunity of not only representing but captaining the Irish International U17 team; a great accolade for any player. All in the club sincerely wish Gerry best wishes in his retirement but all hope it will be a short lived retirement indeed! as we hope to see him back fulfilling another role in Colemanstown United; a club he has been involved with for the last 35 years.