Dublin successors touted as net closes in on Lyons

DUBLIN manager Tommy Lyons offered his resignation to the County Board following their Leinster SFC defeat to Westmeath at Croke Park.

The offer was rejected by chairman John Bailey and Lyons will lead Dublin for the remainder of the championship, starting with the qualifier against London next Saturday in Parnell Park.

However the Board are believed to have targeted Dublin legend Brian Mullins and former Galway footballer Brian Talty as the men to replace Lyons when his contract ends this year.

Mullins, who briefly held the job as Dublin manager in 1996, is still a huge favourite of the Hill 16 faithful. Currently Head of Sport at UCD, he is also a committee member of the Irish Sports Council and is involved with the St Vincent's club. After his term with Dublin, Mullins was in charge of Derry and led them to Ulster championship and NFL successes.

Tuam native Talty, a schoolteacher at St David's secondary school in Artane, is one of the most respected coaches in Dublin. He is in charge of Parnells, who he has led to Division One. He also previously managed Sylvesters of Malahide to a first county championship title in 1997 before taking St Judes to a county semi-final and League title in 2000. He has also managed successful St David's school teams at all age groups.

At inter-county level he was a selector and the trainer of the Dublin Leinster-winning minor team of 1994 that contained Ciarán Whelan, Jason Sherlock, Ray Cosgrove and Ian Robertson.

Talty played a significant role in the recent U21 successes until his public falling out with Lyons last year. He is a regular analyst on radio talk shows in the capital and a critic of the current set-up.

The loss, their first championship defeat to the Midland county since 1967, has led to a number of former players calling for the Mayo man to step down immediately.

All-Ireland winners Paul Curran and Keith Barr led the charge, calling for Lyons to fall on his sword while John O'Leary chastised the players for the 'muck' they served up to an expectant public in Croke Park.

"Outside of [Conal] Keaney, there were no new faces on that Dublin team," said Dublin's icon of the '70s Jimmy Keaveney yesterday.

"These are the same players who, over the last three or four years, have been picked, dropped and picked again.

"You can't build a team with that sort of thing going on. You have guys looking over their shoulders at the sidelines looking for their numbers to come up."

Keaveney believes youth must be given a chance: "It's their last year of the three and they've nothing to lose. We won an U21 All-Ireland last year and we've been doing well at minor for the last few years. Where are all those lads gone?

"It's time we gave new players a chance because we haven't got anywhere using the same fellas for the last number of years anyway."

As for Sunday itself?

"What disappointed me most were the reactions of the players in the second-half and the management on the sidelines for the whole game.

"Barry Cahill should have been taken off or switched off Dessie Dolan early on, not left on him for the 70 minutes.

"Young [Alan] Brogan and Jason Sherlock were fantastic early on and they had Westmeath in all sorts of trouble but Westmeath made their switches and tidied up.

"We got nowhere around the middle either. It was one of those days when we just didn't get it together there and once that happens you're in trouble. When you look at it too, once Brogan and Sherlock were tied up there was no one to take over.

"Conal Keaney had a real off-day but where were the other forwards? They looked like a team playing with no confidence," said Keaveney.

Of course, the fine line between heroism and villainy is a notoriously narrow one in sport.

Last year, the Dubs kicked 17 wides in their shock defeat to Laois. Sunday could have been so different as well.

Consider Senan Connell's point attempt rebounding off the post after 13 minutes, or his disastrous attempt at a 25-yard free that went wide after 61 minutes.

Then Westmeath keeper Gary Connaughton produced a superb save from Jason Sherlock's goal-bound shot three minutes from the end with the score 0-12 apiece. It's Connell's second miss that infuriated Keaveney most however.

"Having no recognised free-taker is just a disaster," said Keaveney.

"Senan Connell kicking that free wide was terrible. I'm not blaming Senan either, because he's not a natural free-taker. Paddy Christie kicking a 45 late on wasn't what you wanted to see either."

Keaveney's views are all the more poignant, of course, considering his own legendary exploits from dead balls as well as from play 30 years ago when he returned from premature retirement in 1972 to help drive Kevin Heffernan's side to three All-Irelands.

"At this level, it's worth your while to carry a free-taker," said the St Vincent's clubman. "Are you telling me Dublin couldn't carry a free-taker against Westmeath? They were carrying three or four forwards as it was.

"We were beaten by two points, we missed a good free from 25 yards and at least two 45s. We even kicked one 45 short, which is criminal. Two 45s and a handy free that says it all."