Discussions still ongoing in the search for new Meath manager

With a week to go before the identity of the new Meath senior football manager will be revealed at a Co Committee meeting on Wednesday 3rd November, chairman Barney Allen confirmed that discussions are still ongoing. “We are still discussing the position and I assure you that no decision has been made yet,” he told the Meath Chronicle on Tuesday morning. “We have not decided who will be the next Meath manager, but I am confident that we will have a name for ratification for the next Co Committee meeting,” he added. Despite the chairman’s reluctance to speculate, it appears that the contest is now between former Meath u-21 manager Gerry Cooney and former Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney. Leading bookmaker Paddy Power has stopped taking bets on Cooney being nominated as the man to take over from Eamonn O’Brien. It is well-known that the Meath Co Committee executive would prefer to appoint a manager from within the county and that would indicate that Cooney could be the choice. It is understood that the former Keegan Cup-winning manager with Dunboyne in 1998 has enlisted the help of former Meath players Darren Fay, Finian Murtagh and Andy McEntee as his selectors and he can also draw on the experience of Irish Olympic coach John Coughlan to assist with strength and conditioning. The alternative package before the three-man interview committee of Allen, Liam Keane and Joe Cassells is the former Monaghan boss McEnaney with Skryne manager and former Meath legend Liam Harnan as well as former Armagh assistant Paul Grimley and Tyrone strength and conditioning coach and former Cavan manager Martin McElkennon. “I haven’t heard anything about the position of Meath manager yet. We are waiting on the outcome like everyone else I suppose,” said Harnan after Skryne’s Leinster Club SFC victory against Rathnew. “I didn’t feel that I had the time to put together the type of package that Meath football needs at the moment and so I thought joining up with Seamus McEnaney was the right option. Teaming up with Seamus is the easier option for me and he will bring a team that I would very much like to be involved with. “I was happy with what Seamus was proposing and the personnel he wants to bring in, but we don’t know yet what is happening. “The time might be right for an outside manager, but the right manager will be the one who wins games for Meath. Whether that manager comes from inside or outside the county or from within the squad or from under a table it shouldn’t matter. “Whoever gets the job, if he doesn’t win games then he will be the wrong manager. “The unwillingness to go for an outside man is probably overplayed. Meath have a proud record of being able to work out their own problems and maybe that is right. I don’t know what will happen. I’m not saying I have all the answers,” concluded Harnan. Former Meath senior manager Eamonn Barry is still in contention as is former Meath minor manager Pat Coyle. However, Coyle is more eager to get the u-21 job and the Meath Co Committee are unlikely to give Barry a second shot. Kilmacud Crokes manager Paddy Carr has withdrawn.