McManus: Panel knew Cribbin was leaving

THE Offaly footballers were expecting Tom Cribbin to step down, according to stalwart Ciarán McManus.

The decision by Laois native Cribbin, who declined to comment yesterday, was revealed in a county board press release. Cribbin, who resigns after two years in charge, is only the second inter-county football manager to quit this season following Mick O’Dwyer from Wicklow.

“He had intimated that he wouldn’t be hanging around,” said McManus. “He felt a three-year stint was needed with the younger lads and a bit of consistency was needed whereas he was maybe only able to give another year.

“He told us before the Monaghan game that we’d give the qualifiers a good rattle and hinted that it was then time for a new man. He didn’t say that exactly but the indications were going that way.”

McManus said Cribbin was particularly upset with the nature of the second round qualifier defeat to Limerick.

“The Limerick result sickened him. I don’t know what happened that day. You can point to the 19 wides and the soft goals we conceded but he had done everything to get us right for it. Now to see Limerick in an All-Ireland quarter-final makes it a lot worse. It proved to be a bridge too far for us.”

McManus, 35 next year, has no intention of ending his inter-county career. He said: “I have no problem playing next year if I’m selected by the new manager. It will depend on the manager. I still think there’s plenty of football in me and I’m delighted with my season this year. I had no injuries and played well.

“We’ll see what happens but it’s hard to say I’m going to retire in the middle of the summer!”

Meanwhile, Kildare selector Niall Carew says that he is confident about his charges’ ability to break down Donegal’s renowned defensive system — providing referee David Coldrick clamps down on what he describes as the Ulster champions’ tendency to commit “professional fouls” high up the pitch.

“It’s all going to come down to the interpretation of the referee,” said Carew yesterday. “If he lets Donegal continue with the cynical fouling of the opposition half-back line in particular, then yes, they will be hard to break down.”

Statistics compiled from three of Donegal’s four Ulster championship games reveal that of the 62 fouls carried out by the team in those games, 43% of them (27) were carried out by the forwards. That figure was a remarkably high (56%) against Antrim, 50% against Cavan and 40% against Derry.