Looks as though Anthony Cunnigham will be named as Galway manager in the coming days
Micheal Donohues failure to get Eamon O Shea on the ticket did for him
Anthony Cunningham will tonight be named as the new Galway senior hurling manager.
The 46-year old will take charge of the Tribesmen for the next three seasons. Cunningham, who guided Galway to the All-Ireland U-21 title this season, will be joined by Tom Helebert and Mattie Kenny on his management team.
A meeting of the Galway hurling board has been called for this evening, when delegates will be asked to ratify the appointment of Cunningham.
The St Thomas clubman was the choice of the seven-man committee, who met on Tuesday night to make a final decision, getting the nod ahead of Portumna boss Johnny Kelly and former Clarinbridge manager Micheal Donoghue.
Cunningham had a spell in charge of the Roscommon hurlers before turning his attention to football management and he had huge success with St Brigid’s of Roscommon and, more recently, with Garrycastle in Westmeath.
He captained Galway to their first All-Ireland minor title in 1983, and skippered them to win the U-21 crown in 1986.
The only other Galway man to lead the county to a brace of All-Ireland titles is Conor Hayes, who captained the victorious senior teams in 1987 and '88 which featured Cunningham at corner-forward.
Hayes was the last Galway native to manage the Tribesmen, having been replaced after the 2006 championship by former Clare boss Ger Loughnane before ex-Tipperary defender John McIntyre took charge three seasons ago.
A complete list (to date, subject to ratifications etc in some counties):
Nine new managers among hurling elite
IAN O’RIORDAN
MANAGERIAL APPOINTMENTS: BRIAN CODY may once again have demonstrated his extraordinary powers of longevity by taking on a record 14th successive term as Kilkenny senior hurling manager but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a season of shifting, swapping and even some shafting – and the process isn’t completed.
Overall, there’s been an unprecedented high turnover in hurling managers for 2012, with nine new appointments among the 14 counties that contest the Liam McCarthy Cup: this time last year there were only two changes in hurling managers.
However, only five football counties have had to put new managers in place for 2012 – compared to the 10 new appointments that were made about this time last year.
The last of those is Fermanagh, who are still concluding the task of replacing John O’Neill, who endured a difficult first year in charge and stepped aside at the end of summer. A large number of seasoned players had already walked away during his term.
Down’s former All-Ireland winning manager Pete McGrath was among those brought in to find a replacement, along with county chairman Peter Carty, secretary Tom Boyle, treasurer Hugh Crudden and hurling board chairman Peter Bogue: they are expected to have completed the interview process by tomorrow evening, with a view to presenting their preferred candidate to the Fermanagh county board next Monday night.
Among those rumoured to have been approached is Peter Canavan, Tyrone’s former All-Ireland winning captain, although it’s highly unlikely he will switch allegiance: also thought to be in the running is former Fermanagh manager Dominic Corrigan and former Derry manager Paddy Crozier, along with locals Peter Clarke and Darren Chapman.
The next-to-last county to confirm a manager for 2012 is Roscommon, although that process will be completed at tomorrow’s county board meeting when Des Newton is put forward for ratification, to replace Fergal O’Donnell, who caught the board somewhat by surprise by stepping down, largely unannounced, a few weeks back after three years in charge.
Newton, a Dublin-based school principal, acted as a selector under Paddy Carr at Dublin club Kilmacud Crokes earlier this year. A former county defender, and brother of fellow Roscommon representative John, Newton also has experience of working with development squads in Donegal, where he was previously based.
In total then the five new football managers for 2012 are Galway’s Alan Mulholland, Roscommon’s Newton (subject to ratification), Wicklow’s Harry Murphy, Offaly’s Gerry Cooney, and whoever gets the job in Fermanagh. It also means there is only one new appointment in Ulster, two in Connacht and Leinster, and no new appointments in Munster football.
The new hurling for managers for 2012, among the Liam McCarthy contestants, are Laois’ Teddy McCarthy, Antrim’s Jerry Wallis, Galway’s Anthony Cunningham, Offaly’s Ollie Baker, Wexford’s Liam Dunne, Cork’s Jimmy Barry Murphy, Waterford’s Michael Ryan, Clare’s Davy Fitzgerald and Limerick’s John Allen.
However Barry Murphy is actually returning to Cork for a second term, having previously managed them to All-Ireland glory in 1999, while Fitzgerald also moves back to his native Clare from Waterford, while Allen moves to Limerick having also previously managed in his native Cork.
2012 Managers
Football
Antrim: Liam Bradley (4th year)
Armagh: Paddy O’Rourke (3rd year)
Carlow: Luke Dempsey (4th year)
Cavan: Val Andrews (2nd year)
Clare: Michael McDermott (3rd year)
Cork: Conor Counihan (5th year)
Derry: John Brennan (2nd year)
Donegal: Jim McGuinness (2nd year)
Down: James McCartan (3rd year)
Dublin: Pat Gilroy (4th year)
Fermanagh: TBC
Galway: Alan Mulholland (1st year)
Kerry: Jack O’Connor (4th year)
Kildare: Kieran McGeeney (5th year)
Laois: Justin McNulty (2nd year)
Leitrim: Mickey Moran (4th year)
Limerick: Maurice Horan (2nd year)
Longford: Glenn Ryan (4th year)
Louth: Peter Fitzpatrick (3rd year)
Offaly: Gerry Cooney (1st year)
Mayo: James Horan (2nd year)
Meath: Séamus McEnaney (2nd year)
Monaghan: Eamonn McEneaney (2nd yr)
Roscommon: Des Newton (1st year, subject to ratification)
Sligo: Kevin Walsh (4th year)
Tipperary: John Evans (4th year)
Tyrone: Mickey Harte (10th year)
Waterford: John Owens (3rd year)
Westmeath: Pat Flanagan (3rd year)
Wexford: Jason Ryan (5th year)
Wicklow: Harry Murphy (1st year)
Hurling (Liam MacCarthy Cup)
Antrim: Jerry Wallis (1st year)
Carlow: Kevin Ryan (4th year)
Clare: Davy Fitzgerald (1st year)
Cork: Jimmy Barry Murphy (1st year).
Dublin: Anthony Daly (4th year)
Galway: Anthony Cunningham (1st year).
Kilkenny: Brian Cody (14th year)
Laois: Teddy McCarthy (1st year)
Limerick: John Allen (1st year)
Offaly: Ollie Baker (1st year)
Tipperary: Declan Ryan (2nd year).
Waterford: Michael Ryan (1st year).
Westmeath: Brian Hanley (2nd year)
Wexford: Liam Dunne (first year)
Peter Canavan being touted for the Fermanagh job
And he’s been confirmed as their new manager tonight. An interesting appointment.
Fermanagh put their faith in Canavan to revive fortunes
IAN O’RIORDAN
THE FERMANAGH County Board last night ratified Peter Canavan as their senior football manager. Canavan emerged as the preferred choice over the weekend as the other candidates opted out, clearing the way for the two-time All-Ireland winner to be handed a three-year term.
It will be the first step into senior intercounty management for Canavan, who captained Tyrone to their first All-Ireland in 2003, although he has managed his club Errigal Ciarán for the past three years.
The 40-year-old has included former Tyrone team-mate Enda Kilpatrick in his backroom team, along with former Fermanagh player Ciarán Donnelly as trainer.
The board will be hoping Canavan will revive the county’s fortunes after John O’Neill’s difficult one-year reign, which saw many of the first-choice players make themselves unavailable – they were well beaten by Derry in the Ulster championship, before making the unceremonious exit to London in the qualifiers.
Meanwhile, the Ulster Council are the last provincial council to confirm their 2012 championship fixtures, with their football dates beginning with Cavan against Donegal at Breffni Park on May 20th. Unlike this year that won’t be a standalone fixture as the Leinster football championship gets under way that Sunday with Westmeath against Louth, plus Longford against Laois.
The winner of Cavan-Donegal will play Derry in the quarter-final, which has been fixed for Saturday, June 16th (Donegal will have home venue in Ballybofey should they progress).
The semi-finals are fixed for Sunday, June 24th and Saturday, June 30th, but there will then be a three-week break until the final, on July 22nd – which also means the beaten finalists will again face a six-day turnaround, as the fourth round qualifiers are set for Saturday, July 28th.With the Leinster football final also on July 22nd, the beaten finalists there will also face a quick turnaround.
The GAA will today release their Master Fixture list, which includes all dates for the All-Ireland series.
All the dates will be published in The Irish Times tomorrow.
2012 ULSTER SFC – Preliminary round: Cavan v Donegal, May 20th, Breffni Park. Quarter-finals: Monaghan v Antrim, May 27th, Clones; Fermanagh v Down, June 3rd, Brewster Park; Armagh v Tyrone, June 10th, Athletic Grounds; Derry v Cavan/Donegal, June 16th, venue TBA. Semi-finals: June 24th; Fermanagh/Down v Monaghan/Antrim; June 30th; Armagh/Tyrone v Derry/Cavan/ Donegal. Final: July 22nd.
Seamus McEnaney will manage Meath in the upcoming championship after a motion to remove him failed to get the required two thirds majority.
Delegates voted 43 to 31 to remove the Meath manager, with McEnaney passing the 25 votes he required to keep his job.
It was a heated meeting in Aras Tailteann tonight with the Meath county board receiving heavy criticism for their handling of the management issue. However, there was also plenty of criticism aimed at the Meath manager, with some speakers unhappy with the style of football being played under McEnaney.
McEnaney’s refusal to resign has been vindicated but the pressure is on the Corduff man to improve the performance of his side. Indeed, he now knows that unless he somehow can deliver some form of success in the Summer then he won’t survive a second vote this year.
He should have the decency to walk away from it if enough people don’t want him there…
That’s the point of a vote Dunph. Not enough people didn’t want him there.
[quote=“The Runt, post: 155034”]
That’s the point of a vote Dunph. Not enough people didn’t want him there.[/quote]
Ah man , so did they or didn`t they want him to go?
This is a splendid outcome, well done to all in Meath GAA. All going well they’ll go out and kick like cunts against those Kildare cunts now in the Championship as only Meath can do.
Seriously though, how thick and pig ignorant is “Banty”? Listening to an interview with Val Andrews on Newstalk last week gives you the two extremes of how to handles this sort of situation.
:lol:
Meath should never have gotten rid of Eamonn O’Brien. Two years - one All Ireland semi and a Leinster Championship (albeit tainted). They would gladly take that now.
There has been serious bad karma over that county since they refused to offer Louth a replay.
A Louth fella I know says this will be worse than Biddy Early and if not, they’ll just burn Meath out of it.
Gerry Cooney has stepped down as Offaly football manager after their poor run in Division 3, losing all but one game
Offaly haven’t had much luck with football managers.
No, they had enough trouble trying to get one over the Winter and it turns out he was shit
Time for Babs
John Meyler has stepped down as Kerry manager
Any reason given for this chewy?