Player power didn’t KO Andrews, insists O’Reilly

Cavan captain Padraic O’Reilly insists the players never voted to get rid of Val Andrews.

Andrews quit as manager following a meeting with his squad to discuss an unimpressive league campaign.

But the Breffni skipper said the players didn’t force Andrews out. He said: “It wasn’t the players’ decision to get rid of Val. We weren’t happy with our performances in the league and the purpose of the meeting was to address that. The fallout to the meeting took its own course but I’ve spoken to Val since and we’re on very good terms. He’s wished us the best against Donegal and the rest of the year.”

He explained the reasoning behind the clear-the-air meeting after the league. “We felt this year was taking a very similar path to last year and we didn’t want it to end up the way last year did. We didn’t want another home championship loss to Donegal because we all walked off that pitch last year feeling dejected. In Cavan it’s compounded because it’s such a football-mad county and you know the hurt the supporters are feeling. We just wanted that to change. We don’t want this year to end the same way as last year.’’