Grimley re-appointed, McDonnell handed Armagh U-21 job

Paul Grimley has been re-appointed for a second year in charge of the Armagh senior footballers, while one of the county's greatest forwards, Steven McDonnell, was last night ratified as their new Under-21 football manager.

It is McDonnell's first inter-county managerial role, the Killeavy clubman having retired from playing top level football in April of last year with one All-Ireland SFC medal, seven Ulster SFC medals and a National League Division 1 medal.

His Armagh U-21 appointment as a successor to Mattie Lennon was ratified at a meeting of the Armagh County Board last night.

McDonnell, a three-time All-Star, is the latest member of Armagh's 2002 All-Ireland winning team to go into inter-county management. Kieran McGeeney and Aidan O'Rourke are currently in charge of Kildare and Louth, while Justin McNulty's departure from the Laois job was announced earlier this week.

Grimley has retained his position as Armagh's senior boss despite a year in which they struggled for results. They managed to stay up in Division 2 of the league but suffered a disappointing Ulster Championship exit at the hands of Cavan in May.

Grimley faced a good deal of criticism after that result, with RTÉ pundit Joe Brolly particularly vocal in slamming his managerial ability. He dubbed Grimley 'clueless' and even brought his twin brothers Mark and John, both former Armagh players, into the argument.

Grimley said the attack was 'too personal' at the time and following Armagh's 25-point demolition of Wicklow in an All-Ireland first round qualifier in June, he took the opportunity to hit back at Brolly.

"I think whenever you're a pundit on TV, or whether you're an expert pundit as I would class Colm O'Rourke because he's been a manager and a footballer," he told RTÉ's 'The Sunday Game'.

"But somebody like Brolly who criticises managers and hasn't worn them shoes...he's not an analyst, he's an entertainer.

"He thinks that he can be popular, like a child in the school yard (trying) to be popular at making fun of other people. But the time will come when he has to stand by them remarks again."

Unfortunately for Grimley, Armagh were duly beaten by Galway in the third round of the qualifiers and that 'off colour' display at Pearse Stadium - scoring just nine points from 25 scoring chances - saw them go out of the Championship with a whimper.