Allen to replace O’Grady as Limerick hurling boss

JOHN ALLEN will be proposed to Limerick club delegates for ratification as the county’s next senior hurling manager at a board meeting next Tuesday night.

The three-man independent appointments committee of Jim Woulfe, Paudie Fitzmaurice and Damien Quigley last night met with county board chairman Liam Lenihan, secretary Michael O’Riordan and treasurer Owen Hayes where they put forward former Cork All-Ireland winning boss Allen as their chosen candidate.

Allen, who was exclusively revealed in the Irish Examiner a fortnight ago as being in the frame to succeed Donal O’Grady who stepped down from his position last month, must first receive ratification from the Limerick county board management committee. They are due to meet tomorrow night where Allen’s candidature will be rubberstamped. Then the process will be completed next Tuesday night when Limerick GAA chiefs seek approval from club delegates. Limerick secretary Michael O’Riordan last night praised the independent appointments committee for the work they had undertaken in recent weeks.

“As a county board we are very thankful for all that they have done and they have presented an excellent candidate to us in John Allen.”

Allen is set to finalise the makeup of his backroom team over the next few days and it is possible that he will have completed that process before next Tuesday night’s county board meeting when club delegates can be furnished with the information. One name already in the frame is that of Ger Cunningham, this year’s Fitzgibbon Cup winning coach with UL, who has been linked with assuming the role of hurling coach. Cunningham, who would have worked with leading Limerick defender Seamus Hickey in that third-level triumph last March, has previously served as a Limerick senior hurling selector.

He has also accumulated a wealth of coaching experience at club level when he steered Cork outfit Newtownshandrum to the All-Ireland senior club hurling title in 2004 and Tipperary club Thurles Sarsfields to the county senior hurling honours in 2005.

The appointment of Allen sees the St Finbarr’s man return to intercounty management for the first time since he ended his tenure in charge of the Cork senior hurlers after their 2006 All-Ireland final defeat.