Players not considering revoltover sacking of Offaly manager

OFFALY football captain Cathal Daly revealed yesterday that the furore over the sacking of manager Paul O’Kelly is “far from done and dusted.”

Daly was responding to the decision of veteran defender Finbarr Cullen to call it a day in protest at the removal of O’Kelly.

“I was talking to Finbarr a couple of times during the week, and I’d say it was a decision he was coming to anyway. He has a lot of it played, it’s tough on the body, so it was something he was thinking of for a while. I’d say this episode finished him.”

The dismissal of O’Kelly less than a year into a projected three-year term has thrown Offaly football into turmoil, with the senior players furious at the manner in which the manager was treated. And reports from inside the county suggesting that this matter hasn’t yet run its course were confirmed yesterday by Daly.

“I’d say the county board think it’s all done and dusted, they think it’s finished with, but the players are still of the same opinion, still not happy with the way things are done, the way it was handled. We have met, we’ve talked about it, and that’s the impression I get from the lads.”

However, Daly confirmed that the players are not considering a revolt in order to bring O’Kelly back to the fold. “That’s not what Paul wants. I’m in constant contact with him; he wants to fight his own battle and he wants us to fight ours, but I don’t think he wants us to get involved in his problems. He wants us to concentrate on what we’re supposed to do, play football, let him handle the rest. In a way, because we haven’t been stronger and more vocal, we’ve left ourselves open to this situation. It’s time for us get organised, get a few issues resolved, and that’s what we’re organising ourselves for. But any support we can give Paul, we certainly will.” According to Daly, this was a situation waiting to happen. It’s not just the players in Offaly who have felt short-changed by their own county board over the years, previous managers too have suffered.

“It’s just unfortunate that Paul was the manager this time, but there’s been many a good manager in Offaly over the years that had the same treatment. Fair play to him for standing up and fighting it, bringing to light the sort of things that have been going on. We want Paul to be able to make his own decisions without having to worry about us. He’s strong enough to do so, he’s a very successful businessman, very intelligent, he knows what he has to do, won’t let things slide. He’ll do his best, and we’re all hopeful that it will work out for him.”

O’Kelly himself was extremely disappointed at this latest twist. He said yesterday: “I’m saddened that a situation has arisen where Finbarr has felt no choice but to make this decision. A vital component of building each new team in Offaly over the last forty years has been that key people were retained from one generation to the next, to carry on the torch and bring the apprentices on with them.

“The best examples I can think of are Paddy McCormack from the team of the ’60s that I grew up with, there when Offaly finally made the breakthrough in ’71/’72, brought the All-Ireland to Offaly, then in 1982, the team that was developed by Eugene McGee had a foundation of a number of the players from the team of the ’70s, including Martin Furlong and Séamus Darby. That’s a vital component of what teams need, powerful role models like Finbarr Cullen, Cathal Daly, Ciaran McManus, Vinny Claffey, Seán Grennan.

“My advice to those players now is to take responsibility for their own performance and fitness levels, they know what they need to do to prepare themselves for next year’s League and championship. They should focus on that, be ready to give the same support and commitment to the next manager that they gave to me.”