O'Kelly given ultimatum by Offaly resign or be fired

UNDER-PRESSURE Offaly football manager Paul O'Kelly yesterday confirmed that he was given a resign-or-be-fired ultimatum by the Offaly County Board, who were meeting last night to debate the issue.

O'Kelly spoke yesterday of his shock and disappointment, not just at the possible end to his tenure, less than one year into a three-year stint, but that the plans which he had already put in train would now come to naught.

"My understanding, and the basis under which I accepted the job, was this was going to be a three-year programme, with a yearly review to take place after the end of our involvement in the senior championship. We would sit down, look at the plan we had, revise it based on what had gone on - team performance, management performance, the performance of the County Board. The players would form a key part of that consultation process, particularly the more experienced players "After that process, we would use whatever we found was the best standard in every area, see where we could achieve those new standards in terms of facilities, training, all the important areas, put a plan into operation to reflect all that.

"The secret is to have a very ambitious vision of what's possible but a very realistic plan to implement that on a day-to-day basis. That was what I understood by the review process, and I had absolutely no thought whatsoever that my position was at risk. A couple of days after we'd lost to Roscommon, I spoke to the chairman and the secretary of the County Board, said we'd get that process done, get started on next season. Their response was that it hadn't yet been considered, that they'd get back to me, which they eventually did, and a process that was designed by them was put in place."

As soon as he had been appointed to the Offaly job, last year, O'Kelly had begun to build and implement a long-term strategy for Offaly football, one with very ambitious aims. "In Offaly, we have the worst underage structure of any county that I'm aware of - it's a disaster. Some outstanding people involved but no investment, teams and coaches not given sufficient support, sufficient training, sufficient resources. We then come on to U-21 level and the County Board is delaying decisions every year, year after year, on the appointment of a management team. Everything is short-term.

"As an example, the minute we were beaten in the championship this year, the team secretary was instructed to go down and cancel all gym memberships. Apart from the obvious loss of fitness in the players generally, some were in the rehab process, recovering from injury, and needed the gym.

"What's most frightening about this was that the county secretary didn't know that following the involvement we had with the gym, the way the players behaved themselves, we were actually getting it for free. What we had to do was take a long-term view on this. My programme involved taking guys in as early as possible and putting them through a standard screening process across a whole range of fitness. So the young fellas and their team managers, were educated on what was required, what the standards are."

He added last night: "What has happened here, in my opinion, encapsulates the major problem in the GAA. There is the dynamic of the players, their mindset, their commitment to excellence, and around them the supporters who absolutely love the game, dig deep to go to the games, that's the real GAA. These people try to go forward, reach new heights, try to do things better, and they meet the GAA civil servant who knows nothing but rules and regulations, who knows only what they did last year and every year before, who is comfortable with that and wants to keep on doing that. When they come head-to-head, that's where the real problem occurs."

The latest from the camp last night was that the players, organised by team captain Cathal Daly, were preparing a letter of protest to the Board.