Evans and Cooney are safe

The managers of Allianz Football Division 3’s bottom two teams,Tipperary and Offaly, have both dismissed speculation they were close to vacating their positions.

John Evans and Gerry Cooney last night insisted they remain fully committed to their roles.

Neither have seen their team pick up a single point from their opening four games and face major battles to avoid the drop to Division 4 next season.

Tipperary succumbed to their fourth defeat in as many games at home to Cavan on Sunday when they conceded four goals.

Offaly also fell for the fourth consecutive time when Wexford beat them by 13 points in O’Connor Park.

The rumour mill suggested Tipperary manager Evans had been approached by the county board about stepping down as manager following the defeat to Cavan.

However, he categorically denied there was any such discussion.

“There’s no problem — they still want me,” laughed Evans.

“I don’t know where that came from. A lot of guys are disappointed but none more so than the team itself. A lot of supporters understand what’s happening.

“We were without seven players the last day, six of them missing with injury and one through a bereavement.

“A county like Tipperary can’t afford to be missing that amount of players, never mind one or two.”

Cooney also refuted reports he was close to stepping down as Offaly manager after their latest reverse.

“There’s no story. There was some speculation after the match on Sunday but we’re training tonight (last night) and preparing for a match in Cavan on Sunday, that’s the latest update. The story grew legs. There’s pressure on us and maybe people would like to see it happen but it didn’t happen.”

Like Evans, Cooney appreciates nobody in his county are particularly happy with the recent run of results.

However, he believes too much was read into talks between the management and players in the dressing room in Tullamore on Sunday.

“There were things said in the dressing room. All of us had to look at ourselves and I’ve always started with myself. Nothing was said to suggest that it was the end of the line. We just asked everyone to have a look at how they prepared and whether they could have done things differently.”

Cooney — Offaly’s fifth boss in seven seasons — was appointed last November four months after Tom Cribben stepped down. The seniors’ problems come at a time when their U21s, under Pascal Kelleghan, are impressing and face a Leinstersemi-final against Louth next week.

Over three seasons, Evans guided Tipperary from Division 4 to Division 2 before they were demoted in 2010. However, they have struggled so far this year with injuries to key players, while they came in for criticism when a number of players refused to make themselves available to the Munster Interprovincial team. Tipperary have a trip to Sligo on Sunday, Kevin Walsh’s side also struggling having lost three of their four games.

Meanwhile, Tipperary hurlers could be boosted by the return of Seamus Callanan and Patrick Maher by the end of the Allianz Hurling Division 1.