Former Meath manager calls for changes at top of Meath GAA board

Former Meath manager and coaching officer Eamonn Barry has called on Meath County GAA Committee chairman Barney Allen to consider his position. The call came following a claim by the chairman last week that he did not know Sean Boylan had stepped down from the position as director of football and comes in a week when Meath football sunk to its lowest ebb in decades as the county seniors were relegated to Division 3 of the Allianz National Football League. "After last week, I believe the chairman's position is untenable. He treated the question from a delegate as if it was an April Fool's joke. He should resign now," said Barry. "It was well-known for the previous four or five weeks that Sean Boylan had resigned and it was well-known by members of the executive," he added. "It's time for the delegates from the clubs to stand up and be counted over this matter. It just makes us the laughing stock of Leinster and of the GAA as a whole," said Barry. The Walterstown clubman said that since he ceased his role as Meath senior football team manager in 2006, he has devoted much of his spare time to developing underage football in the county. "There is no support for underage football from many of the officers of the board. They appear to have no interest in it, although they might say the right things," he remarked. "The appointment of Sean Boylan as director of football was handled badly by the chairman. He used it to garner votes in the run-up to the convention, it's as simple as that," added Barry. Efforts to contact the County Committee chairman yesterday (Tuesday) for comment proved unsuccessful. To read the full story see this week's Meath Chronicle.