Moyna to take temporary charge of Dublin footballers

DR NIALL MOYNA will take temporary charge of the Dublin footballers as the County Board continue their efforts to appoint a successor to Tommy Lyons.

With first choice Brian Mullins out of the race following a row with the board’s executive, the players have asked Moyna, DCU’s Sigerson boss, to take their training sessions. Most of that regime will be gym-based.

Ironically Dublin players have been without any gym membership since their All-Ireland quarter-final exit to Kerry four months ago.

“At this stage we feel we’ve fallen a bit behind the other counties,” said Dublin player Ciaran Whelan on Dublin radio station Newstalk 106 last night.

“We’re obviously disappointed and a bit disillusioned that the Brian Mullins bid fell through at the weekend. His demands were up there with what is needed for the modern game of Gaelic football.

“Niall is a qualified guy who has looked after a lot of teams (he has managed the DCU Sigerson side for the last seven years and was involved with this year’s International Rules squad) and he’s doing this on a voluntary basis.”

Meanwhile, board chairman John Bailey, who has rejected calls for his resignation from a variety of sources, has made it known that the executive will be looking “in-house” for the next manager.

And he has confidently predicted that the matter can be concluded within the next ten days.

Outgoing selector Paul Caffrey has emerged as a contender to succeed Lyons while yesterday bookmakers installed former Galway star Brian Talty as 4/7 favourite to take over but this is considered unlikely.

Dave Billings, the other member of the outgoing selection committee is also a possible target.

Predictably, the county board, and Bailey in particular, are coming in for increasing levels of criticism from supporters, ex-players and even ex-managers.

Tommy Carr claimed over the weekend that every management set-up of the past six years had been mishandled and was critical of Bailey.

Carr’s former team-mate Paul Curran claimed Dublin had become the “FAI of Gaelic football” and called for the chairman to resign.

Speaking on Eamon Dunphy’s Breakfast Show on Newstalk 106 Lyons joined the chorus of disapproval claiming the whole process of finding his successor was flawed.