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So here we are again....the poisoned chalice needs another candidate.......so who are they and in what order......There arent too many from inside the county though the main ones could come from Clara Tullamore and Rhode and Edenderry......Pat Flanagan could be called home from Sligo and is easily the most experienced from within to do the job. Others could include Phil O Reilly.......would John Rouse and Benny O Brien be involved.....its a possibility but more than likely not as front line men just now..... Peter Brady/ Finbarr Cullen axis would also be strong enough while Rhode's Pat Daly, tom Coffey, Steven Darby could be candidates....What about a dark horse in the Ladies football manager who has had good success to date??? Paschal Kellaghan would also be a reasonably strong candidate if he threw the hat in the ring..... This remains to be seen as he could stay with a decent minor team and try build from there, but that would require them to think strategically which i cant see happening and keep him in underage for another 4 years to see these young lads through to U21 and beyond if they were really serious about building something....

My view is that we are building for too long now and that really, there isnt too much building at all, but only talk of it......we need to create something at the top to give young lads a desire to play senior for Offaly again....to see some successs would give that prestige again - something that has been lost in recent years even if McDonnells lads tried hard and were honest in their endeavors....From this perspective Kellaghan is the guy i would say they will look to if it is an insider.....If its an outsider, then could be any from Glenn Ryan, Luke Dempsey, Jack Sheedy, Tommy Carr or numerous others that do the circuit on the gravy train......for me, id be going for the former...

With the hole we're in we need a strong manager & back rom staff to come in & get us back on track, but firstly the CB must act now in getting a man in, make sure that training facilitates are in place & really look like their doing something about improving the state of the game of football in Offaly.

Now jimbob if they give the job to Pat Daly when he's done nothing in management to date then what does that say about where the county is heading...actually if I will be completely honest here outside of Steven Darby I wouldn't entertain any of the other candidates getting the managers role & even then I think his success with rhode was more to do with having an exceptionally talent & committed bunch of footballers at his disposal while Offaly club football itself was beginning a decline in the quality of the standard of football...I've always maintained you could have had Kevin Kilmurray over that rhode team & got them to win a few county titles back then!!

Now I'm sure there are plenty of managers outside the county who are trying to get back into the game after maybe not so successful stints at other counties & let's be honest here there's very few projects bigger than rebuilding Offaly football, as when you have a guy like Pat Spillane coming out saying something's wrong in Offaly...you can kind of get the feeling that something is terribly wrong indeed!!

I know people always say we don't have money to pay a big name manager...but maybe we dismiss a lot of so called big managers because we assume they want huge expenses when really they probably just love to be involved in the game & there would be absolutely no pressure on them to win anything...all we're looking for is someone who can drag us out of the massive hole we've fallen into!!

There's plenty of managers out there who would see Offaly as a massive challenge & if given the right support it could be a great project to be heading up...like Tommy Lyons didn't get rich managing Offaly when we were in division 4, but he came anyway, Paidi O'Se & Mick O'Dwyer for all their success in Kerry are remembered more for bringing success to smaller counties.

I think if we approached a guy like Joe Kernan, or John Mahony or a manager of that pedigree with the right sales pitch, people would see it for what this job presents...a unique opportunity to take a team from nowhere to back among the top 8 counties in Ireland which is where we want to be.

Whoever is the manager we need to make sure it isn't Pascal Kelleghan.He is doing a good job with the minors and should be left there for 4 or 5 years to develope himself as a coach and to hopefully bring through some good players.We don't want to ruin him by asking him to make the step up to senior management too soon.

DAF wrote:Whoever is the manager we need to make sure it isn't Pascal Kelleghan.He is doing a good job with the minors and should be left there for 4 or 5 years to develope himself as a coach and to hopefully bring through some good players.We don't want to ruin him by asking him to make the step up to senior management too soon.

Agreed. Anyway, I'd say lessons will have been learned about promoting people too quickly now. Though Paschal has a hell of a lot more experience and credentials than Emmet did a couple of years ago.

I see where Louth's Colin Kelly was linked to the senior job, good little forward in his day.

Any word on this? Surely there is something happening.......with McDonnell stepping down months ago and championship in full flow, there should be someone in place by now if we were serious about moving things forward. Hard to credit Colin Kelly for this job. Did well with Louth 21s and maybe a club team but bringing a guy down from Drogheda who is very inexperienced and who knows nothing about Offaly football wouldnt make sense to me!! Also previous football ability doesnt come into it for me at all......How good a footballer was Eugene McGee, Tommy Lyons or Mickey Harte? Is there no up and coming more experienced managers in neighbouring counties or even Offaly that would fit into the role......

Correct JImbob, it's managerial ability, tactical know how that counts. The 3 men you mention wouldn't be intercounty stars, but their achievements as managers, are there to be seen.

It's hard to believe that with both football and hurling championships at knock out stage, we have no appointments for football and hurling hot seats.

Thats our county board for you, they will wait till 2015, to get a replacement in for the footballer's
or if their is a change in the hurling, its all about saving money lads, and having O.Connor park looking well for other teams to play in as we will be out of both codes in may or early june.

i dont think there will be many outside people willing to take on the job unless its extremely financially attractive. the assertion that we need someone to take us back into the top 8 is a lovely thought but the chances are zero in the near to medium future.out antiquated and out of date youth policy will ensure that.john o mahoney or joe kernan? are you having a laugh?them lads dont want to take over a team with zero prospects and nothing coming through.remember when micko and paudi took over kildare westmeath and laois there were successful minors and u 21s coming through...

biffinbanner wrote:i dont think there will be many outside people willing to take on the job unless its extremely financially attractive. the assertion that we need someone to take us back into the top 8 is a lovely thought but the chances are zero in the near to medium future.out antiquated and out of date youth policy will ensure that.john o mahoney or joe kernan? are you having a laugh?them lads dont want to take over a team with zero prospects and nothing coming through.remember when micko and paudi took over kildare westmeath and laois there were successful minors and u 21s coming through...

I think to a large extent what happens in both Hurling and Football at senior level over the next few years will be irellevant, the foundation must be looked after first and that takes time, now that the board are finally addressing the real problems within the county i'm hopeful that we can make progress but it takes time to find the right men with the right knowledge with the right attitude and if that means it takes a few years to get things in place then so be it, all we can hope for in the meantime is that whoever comes in can raise the bar as much as possible before the county becomes an attractive proposition to prospective managers again

I actually think that Emmet Mcdonnell was very unlucky in the situation that he found himself in, i think he will eventually turn out to be a top level manager but i think it was way too soon to put him into senior management, Secondary school level is a number of rungs below senior intercounty level and if you haven't got any kind of adult experience or successes at club level you can struggle to earn respect at senior county level, if we are to look any where for a manager in my view it should be Siggerson cup College level, You know a manager can handle intercounty level if they can bring a group of players from all over the country with no parish or county allegience and still be able to mold them into a cohesive unit and be successful and its been proven to be a breeding ground in the past for new innovative thinkers in the game

biffinbanner wrote:remember when micko and paudi took over kildare westmeath and laois there were successful minors and u 21s coming through...

Aye, but Micko also took over Clare and Wicklow and Paidi took charge of Clare. Mileage is far more important than talent!

A very valid point BNM man, gravy trains as opposed to band wagons!

agree but their first foray outside of their counties were to places where there was young lads coming thru..then they went monetarily!!

no surprise we have no football manager in september . it the way offaly county board work wait till every county has two months planning done for next year then appoint someone with no experence , dont provide him with the basic supports and then blame the players for failure on the field.
reminds me of what happend last year with brian whelahan .
gave him a job he didnt want for another few years and he is damaged and will never make a decent manager now .
does anyone know is whelahan staying on i hope he goes because he was a sorry sight last year .
he looked clueless and bitter with what he had been handed .
hope the county board dont fuck up again with the football apointment.

Heard this evening that Pat Flanagan is possibly in the shake up despite being with Sligo!!! not a certainty but wouldnt be a bad choice!!!