Naughton new boss as Dubs’ crisis ends

THE crisis threatening Dublin’s involvement in the All-Ireland hurling qualifiers came to an end last night with the appointment of Tommy Naughton as senior manager.

At an emergency meeting of the county board in Parnell Park, it was also agreed that Naughton and his management team of Andy Cunningham and Tommy Ryan would not be prevented from selecting any player. Last week, Naughton was offered the post in the wake of Humphrey Kelleher’s dismissal, but that changed when Naughton made it known that he wanted to bring last year’s captain Kevin Flynn back into the fold.

Flynn had left for America days before the All-Ireland qualifier against Kilkenny last year and has not played for the county since.

“The county board picks the manager and selectors,” said chairman John Bailey after the meeting. “We cleared the air tonight so hopefully, bygones will be bygones. What happened yesterday is over. We’re going forward not backwards. All players are available for the county team. It’s up to the manager to pick who he wants to pick, whoever he thinks is suitable, as long as he is eligible.”

Prior to the meeting, a number of the senior panel were on hand to hand out their statement to club delegates from earlier in the week and it was noticeable that forward Tomas McGrane, who hasn’t played for the county since last year, was one of those present.

The players indicated that, in the event of a new permanent management team being appointed, a number of other players aside from McGrane would return.