Some Down members ‘lost the plot’, says Jim McCorry

Jim McCorry says he reluctantly resigned as Down manager because a handful of county executive members “lost the plot” over their qualifier defeat by Wexford.

The shock loss in the first round All-Ireland SFC qualifiers and his post-match interview on ‘The Sunday Game’ were what he described as “the sticks used to beat me with”.

McCorry stepped down on Thursday night after just one year in charge of a Mourne team in transition.

He exceeded expectations with promotion to Division One in the spring, but ultimately the two championship defeats – first unluckily to Derry by a point in the Ulster championship – and the five-point loss in Wexford put him under pressure.

Despite surviving a county board vote by 22-20 last month, McCorry claimed his position became “untenable” when several county executive members challenged him on certain issues.

“It unravelled because people focused on one bad day at the office and didn’t see the bigger picture,” he claimed yesterday.

“We had a three-year plan to try and win an Ulster title, which was a realistic aim, but people looked at the present and that’s the disappointing thing.

“We were gutted to lose to Wexford and no excuses, they were the better team on the day, but people seemed to lose the plot over that one result.

“The RTÉ interview was also mentioned, some people thought it seemed I wasn’t too bothered about losing to Wexford.

“It was bad the way it was commented upon by Tomás Ó Sé, but the one answer RTÉ used didn’t really reflect the whole interview. Of course the defeat hurt us.

“I had two meetings with the county executive before the county board vote and then asked for another meeting, which took almost four weeks to arrange.

“I was told at that meeting last Monday that I had their 100% backing, but to me it was just words.

“As one respected county official said to me, ‘Jim, they’re just waiting for you to trip up and it will start again’.”

McCorry revealed Marty Clarke, Dan Gordon and Benny Coulter had all signalled a desire to be involved in 2016, having not played this year.

“I was questioned why I didn’t have the best players in Down playing this year, but I wasn’t going to go begging any player to come and play for Down.

“The fact they hadn’t committed this year was used as a stick to beat me with.

“I had the backing of the chairman, Sean Rooney, but for a county executive not to be able to get the management to go with them is unprecedented, and I felt my position became untenable.

“In my heart I wanted to stay on because I enjoyed working with the players and the supporters were great.