Laois targets O’Dwyer to fill senior manager role

LAOIS have confirmed that Mick O’Dwyer is their main target to succeed Colm Browne as the county’s senior football manager.

Club delegates gave a mandate to county officials at a meeting of the football board in Portlaoise on Monday night to open negotiations with the former Kildare and Kerry manager and Waterville native this week.

“Micko only became available on Thursday night after confirming his decision to step down as Kildare boss,” Laois PRO Marcella Daly said yesterday.

“Technically, we couldn’t approach him until then, but when he did step down, the meeting of the football board was confirmed for (Monday) night with a view to beginning the process of getting Micko on board,” Daly said.

Laois want the Kerryman on board and O’Dwyer has said that he was interested in the job. He also stated in his Irish Examiner column that he was far from finished with football in the event of his leaving the Lilywhites.

However, Daly said that it was premature to picture the Kerry great in the Laois bainisteoir’s bib.

“It is still very early yet and we have a lot to discuss before anything can be decided. We will be talking to Micko very soon and we’ll see where it goes from there,” she said.

Daly also confirmed that a new manager would have responsibility for the Under-21 side and the seniors. Dublin adopted such a structure in appointing Tommy Lyons last year, and the club has since captured Leinster titles at both grades.

Oliver Phelan and Gabriel Lawlor were also put forward as potential candidates at Monday night’s meeting. Both men are natives of the Leinster county and Phelan guided the minors to All-Ireland success in 1996, with Lawlor doing likewise the year after.

However, Lawlor has reportedly stated that he would not allow his name to go forward if he were up against O’Dwyer as a possible successor to Browne.

While the county’s football administrators seem to be wasting little time in finding a new man to guide their county team, the same cannot be said for their hurling counterparts.

The O’Moores are still looking for a replacement for former Offaly player Pat Delaney, whose role as senior hurling manager ended with the county’s demoralising defeat to Meath in this year’s Leinster championship.

Under-21 manager Seamus Plunkett took over for the team’s title-winning “B” championship campaign, but despite being touted as favourite for a permanent post, no headway has been made.

County secretary Liam O’Neill called for the disbandment of the hurling board (and its football counterpart) this summer, but there has been no action except for a biting response from its chairman, Fr Nicholas Flavin.