Offaly footballers give vote of no confidence to Connor

Offaly's enior footballers this evening gave a vote of no confidence to their manager Richie Connor, before walking out of an emergency meeting with the Offaly Co board.

The meeting at O'Connor Park, Tullamore followed a dismal display by the Offaly U-21 side as they succumbed to a heavy defeat against neighbours Westmeath in the Leinster U-21 Championship.

The meeting took place at the request of Offaly Co chairman Pat Teehan with 24 of the 30-man senior football panel in attendance.

A statement issued by Offaly PRO Brendan Minnock on behalf of the county board outlined the proceedings of the meeting.

"Mr Teehan addressed the gathering with a prepared statement, and then asked the players for their input," it read.

"One player read a statement saying that 22 players had a meeting the previous evening and had voted no confidence in the current team management of Richie Connor, Mark Plunkett and Ollie Daly.

"When asked by the chairman their reasons for their vote of no confidence, the players refused to respond and 20 of them walked out of the meeting.

"Since then, players that walked out have contacted both the team manager and Co board officials to say they did not agree with the walk out. The team management has called training for Sunday morning in preparation for Sunday week's NFL game versus Longford."