Flanagan favourite to take over as new Offaly manager

Offaly GAA chiefs are closing in on Pat Flanagan to replace Emmet McDonnell as the next county football manager.

Flanagan departed the post of Sligo manager on Saturday morning and is expected to be unveiled as McDonnell’s successor later this week.

“The new Offaly manager will be known before the end of this week,” County Board secretary Tommy Byrne revealed yesterday. “We are at the end of our process.”

The Offaly County Board convene tonight and speculation is growing that Flanagan’s name will be proposed to delegates at the meeting. The selection committee of board chairman Padraig Boland, Leinster Council delegate Fergal McKeown and former players James Brady and David Coffey concluded the interview process over the weekend.

Flanagan led his native Clara to county senior football honours in 2009 before spending three and a half years overseeing Westmeath. During his tenure, he succeeded in bringing the Lake County footballers from Division 3 to the league’s top tier.

Appointed to the position of Sligo manager at the end of 2013, Flanagan was reluctant to commit to a second term at the helm following Emmet McDonnell’s departure from the Offaly scene.

Elsewhere, Westmeath chairman Sean Sheridan has confirmed that Seamus “Banty” McEnaney remains in the hunt to replace Paul Bealin as the next Lake County football boss. The former Monaghan and Meath manager, having met with the five-person selection committee, has emerged as the frontrunner to fill the vacant position.

Former Offaly All-Ireland winning hurler Danny Owens is expected to be proposed by the top table for the position of Westmeath hurling manager at tomorrow’s County Board meeting.

Meanwhile, Neil Gallagher insists he will be available to the new Donegal manager in 2015.

The 31-year-old Glenswilly midfielder cited the return of Christy Toye, who missed the entire 2013 season with a virus, to the set-up this year as an example of the potential that still exists with regard to the more experienced members of the Donegal panel.

“It has been some journey over these last four years,” Gallagher told Donegal TV of his time working under McGuinness.

“If the new manager wants to pick me then grand. There’s a lot of us around that 31 or 32 bracket. You saw Christy Toye there, who missed a year out and came back and had a great year.”

McGuinness stepped down as manager of Donegal on Friday night. The Donegal County Board started the ball rolling at last night’s county committee meeting and chairman Sean Dunnion said they expect to have McGuinness’s successor in place by the end of the month.