Dunne fancied to land Premier job after shock Sheedy exit

ALL-IRELAND-winning U21 coach Tommy Dunne has emerged as the early favourite to take over control of the Tipperary hurlers following the surprise resignation yesterday of Liam Sheedy and his All-Ireland-winning management team.

Sheedy, Eamonn O’Shea and Michael Ryan cited work commitments in their resignation statement. With Ken Hogan already ruling himself out of the frame, Toomevara’s Dunne is seen within the county as their likely successor.

He steered the Premier to the All-Ireland U21 crown this year with a side that included five of the starting senior team and was captain when the county won the 2001 senior title. Other live possibilities for the post include former boss Nicky English, as well as former stars Declan Ryan and Declan Carr, who have both worked with Tipperary teams at underage level. Already several of Tipp’sAll-Ireland winning side have expressed their disappointment at the departure of the management team.

“We’re sorry to see the lads go. It’s a big disappointment to us all because the set-up in Tipperary has been brilliant for the last few years and that’s down to all the hard work the lads have put in as a management team,” said Noel McGrath.

“But we have to respect the decision they’ve made, and they’ve made that decision on the basis of what’s best for themselves and their families. We respect that.”

McGrath said the issue had been decided between county board officials and the management team.

“We just heard in the last 24 hours of the decision,” said McGrath. “It had nothing to do with the players at all, it was behind-the-scenes discussions between the management and the county board. We just have to get on with it.”

The Loughmore-Castleiney clubman reiterated that the Tipperary players had no part in the departure of the management team and added that there had been no bad feeling over them stepping down.

“No, there was no question of anything like that,” said McGrath. “We’ve always had a good camp with Tipp, a happy camp, and the decision was taken by the management team alone. That’s just the way it is. We’ll just have to get on with things now.”

Tipp defender full-back Paul Curran hopes history doesn’t repeat itself following the shock resignation of Sheedy and his backroom team.

The Premier County went nine years without championship glory after Nicky English quit the post in similar fashion in 2001.

And Curran hopes that lessons can be learned from the past if Tipperary are to remain a hurling force and retain their title in 2011.

“The players are shocked,” Curran said. “When we had the last success with Nicholas English, things fell apart again (after he left). I’d hate to see that happening now. We don’t know where it is going to go.”

He praised the management trio’s attention to detail during their three-year term.

He told TV3: “It was such a good system they had, they were so professional. They covered everything. It will be an enormous job trying to replace those boys.”

Tipperary legend John Leahy admitted the news is a huge blow to hurling in the county. “It is a big job to take over any team even at club level but particularly at county level. For them maybe it is the right decision. But from a Tipperary point of view it can’t be seen to be a very positive decision.”