100 days and rising

Meath GAA Co Committee have resumed the search for a manager for the senior football team almost 100 days after Colm Coyle resigned from the position. Coyle stepped down on Saturday, 19th July following Meath"s exit from the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers against Limerick, a game they lost by 4-3 to 4-12. At last week"s monthly Co Board meeting in Navan, club delegates were informed that the chosen candidate put forward by the inaugural selection sub-committee, Luke Dempsey, had been rejected by the management committee. However, it has since transpired that some members on the 16-man management committee were not entitled to vote on the matter. We believe that up to four of the 16 members were not entitled to vote on the motion because they had missed three or more consecutive management committee meetings. Prior to last week"s meeting, Luke Dempsey had two meetings with Meath Co Committee officials and was put forward as the majority candidate by the first selection sub-committee. Following the events at last week"s Co Committee meeting, Luke Dempsey subsequently withdrew his name and maintained that he was disappointed not to get a chance to manage Meath. Now, a new selection sub-committee has been put in place, but Co Committee secretary Cyril Creavin indicated to the Meath Chronicle, through the office at Pairc Tailteann, that the members of the new sub-committee would not be identified to the media. New nomination forms were issued to clubs early last week and the closing date for nominations was set for Wednesday (22nd October) of this week, 5.0 It is not clear if candidates who were interviewed by the first selection sub-committee will be considered again and if so whether or not they will have to be re-interviewed. New candidates nominated by clubs will have to be interviewed. Central Council delegate Brendan Dempsey, who was a member of the first selection sub-committee, last week resigned from the sub-committee after Luke Dempsey"s candidacy was rejected. The other members of that sub-committee were Barney Allen (Co Committee chairman), Cathal Joyce (vice-chairman), Brendan Cummins (PRO) and Creavin. The second selection sub-committee comprises three members of the management committee. It is our understanding that those three are Allen, Francis Flynn (fixtures secretary) and TJ Reilly (hurling chairman). The managers for the junior, u-21 and minor football teams are expected to be announced next week and the senior hurling manager"s position is also expected to be clarified.