Sligo dance around a managerial issue, Kerry are much clearer about their quest and the inter-pros live on.
Should I stay or should I Sligo
In four years in charge of the Sligo footballers, Kevin Walsh brought the county from Division 4 to Division 2 and while they dropped back to Division 3 they almost escaped the third tier this term.
In the Championship the Galway man led the Yeats County to two Connacht finals, one of which was this season and while they exited the Qualifiers in a very tame fashion we thought Walsh had done enough to have his services retained.
Instead, three weeks after their season ended, there has been no update on Walsh’s future yet. According to the Sligo Champion, the County Board chairman, Cyril Feehily, hasn’t even spoken to Walsh since the 0-13 to 0-4 defeat to the Lilywhites.
“I think it’s important that we get the views of the members of the Executive before we make any decision one way or the other,” says Feehily.
“I haven’t spoken with Kevin Walsh since the Kildare match and I don’t know what his intentions are. The Executive will meet next week to review things and we’ll take it from there.
“At present, we don’t have managers for the minor, U21 or senior squads, so the situation is in limbo.”
As we have spoken about before in regard to Meath, there is no excuse these days for letting managerial vacancies and uncertainty drag on in a county. It’s not very fair on Walsh either, who would have surely quit already if he fancied a change.
Democracy doesn’t rule in the Kingdom
Unsurprisingly for a place named after a monarchy, the lads in Kerry won’t be reaching out to anyone when it comes to picking a new boss.
In The Kerryman, County Board chairman Patrick O’Sullivan dismissed the idea, despite other counties having a quick word with their senior stars before picking the next bainisteoir.
“The players won’t be canvassed on the matter,” said O’Sullivan. “In my experience players don’t want to get involved in such things and any involvement in the selection process could lead to problems further down the line when the new manager and the players start to work with each other.”
So there.
Inter provincials on the move again?
If, like us, you have wished for the GAA to either kill off the Inter-provincial series or properly turn it into an ‘All-Star’ style weekend then this isn’t great news.
According to today’s Irish Independent, Croke Park are planning to move the games away from their current dates in Spring and back to October/November. Due to League, club, college and U21 competitions, this year’s games saw loads of players opt out but will the dark days of late autumn/winter be any better?
Whatever happens, the Inter-pros look set to continue.
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