Michael Moynihan: Bonnar's shabby treatment highlights a Premier PR blunder  

All heart: Outgoing Tipperary manager Colm Bonnar deserved better from the county board.

The departure of Colm Bonnar as Tipperary senior hurling manager yesterday provided a surprising diversion as the All-Ireland final countdown continued.

Early on Thursday morning a brief statement from the Tipperary County Board saying its executive met “last night (Wednesday) to discuss the 2022 senior hurling season. Following a very comprehensive review the management committee have made the decision to relieve Colm Bonnar from his duties as Tipperary senior hurling manager”.

The statement thanked Bonnar and wished him well, but he responded that afternoon to tipperarylive.ie, giving a more detailed account of Wednesday evening’s meeting and its aftermath.

"I presented a detailed presentation to the 15 person Executive yesterday evening (Wednesday), this encompassed my review of 2022 and my plans for 2023. I have since been informed by the County Board that I am no longer in the position of Tipperary senior hurling manager for the coming years.” 

Bonnar also pointed out that he was “extremely disappointed with the decision”, referring to the terms of reference for his three-year term when appointed in December 2021, “where it was stated that Tipperary were entering a transition and a rebuilding period. The manager will need time to add new players to the panel and patience was urged for this rebuild.” He signed off with a pledge to continue as a supporter of Tipperary and wished all involved the best.

Tipperary had a terrible year, losing to Kerry in a preseason competition and losing all their championship games, including a record defeat at the hands of Cork.

However, Bonnar had to plan without retirees Brendan and Paraic Maher all year as well as injury victims Seamus Callanan and John McGrath for much of the season. As noted in his statement, integrating new players into the senior team was clearly a medium-term necessity for Tipperary, and integration is always understood in these circumstances as denoting short-term pain.

The sequence of events outlined by Bonnar in his statement doesn’t reflect well on officials in the Premier County, and questions are bound to be asked why the executive went to the trouble of scheduling a meeting with the manager of the county senior hurlers, hearing a presentation about his plans for next year as well as a review of the 2022 season - and then informing him afterwards that he was being “relieved from (sic) his duties”.

If nothing else yesterday’s events are a neat cautionary tale in PR planning. By releasing their statement so early and ruling out further comment, Tipperary officials left the field open to Bonnar to respond at leisure, and when he did so his statement exposed a real shabbiness in his treatment. A thoroughly decent and honest operator, the man from Cashel certainly deserved better after taking on such a difficult job.

Attention will now turn to his replacement, however. Tipperary are unlikely to look outside the county, so promising underage managers like James Woodlock (minor) and Brendan Cummins (u20) will come into consideration, as will experienced campaigners such as Willie Maher.

A lot of attention will be paid to the plans and intentions of Liam Cahill, whose minor and U20 successes with his native Tipp have been augmented by impressive performances as Waterford manager, including this year’s National League title.

When Liam Sheedy stepped down as Tipperary manager last year Cahill turned his native county down, saying “I fully understand that this decision will please some but deeply disappoint many others.” 

For those in Tipperary keen to see him return, Cahill appeared to commit to Waterford for 2023 when speaking a couple of weeks ago on Sport Iris on TG4, saying of their disappointments this year: “We are all very adamant that we will dust ourselves down and pick ourselves up and go again.

“That’s what we do as players and management, and we can’t wait for next December to come around and get back on the horse again, and get going.” 

 Is it telling that a definitive statement hasn’t yet come out of Waterford tying Cahill down for next year? Perhaps, though that may change in the next 24 hours.

Which would only be fitting, given how much has changed in the last 24 hours.