Laois in no rush to appoint new hurling manager

Laois County Board chairman Brian Allen says they will have to adopt "a more long-term approach" for the county's next senior hurling manager.

Brendan Fennelly's departure from the job, which was confirmed today, leaves Laois looking for their fifth hurling boss in seven years.

Fennelly's predecessors in the role since 2005 were current Antrim supremo Dinny Cahill, Tullamore's Damien Fox and former Laois player Niall Rigney.

A statement from the Laois County Board announced Fennelly's resignation, acknowledging "his contribution and work with Laois hurling over the past nine months".

The Kilkenny man spoke of the disillusionment within the set-up after Laois' 10-goal hammering by Cork last month, and it was clear that there were issues between some of the players and the management.

"Brendan felt that, in the best interest of Laois hurling, it was time for a new start," said Chairman Brian Allen, in an interview with Midlands 103 today.

"At our recent hurling forum, a lot of problems were highlighted. A lot of things that we need to look at from the ground up, to get people more interested in playing for the county.

"To try and take some of the emphasis off the club, which seems to have developed in Laois...where people put a greater focus on playing for the club rather than the pride for the county jersey.

"That was his decision, that we basically need to look at that. He had highlighted some of these shortcomings and said that he wouldn't be the right man to continue."

Fennelly encountered a depressing situation where players are expressing more of a desire to play for their clubs instead of the county team.

This has got to stop according to Allen, who revealed: "Brendan said the encouragement from clubs to get players to play for their county seemed to be very, very weak in some cases. He was very disappointed with that.

"It's a big job (sorting out the 'club over county' culture). we're working behind the scenes on it. It's not going to happen overnight.

"We'll have to work on it and develop a structure where the county team becomes the number one focus, and our flagship. Until we do that, we're going nowhere."

Getting that high level of commitment from Laois' clubs and their players will be foremost in the mind of the next manager who comes in.

Whilst admitting that they have "nobody in mind at the moment", Allen explained that the O'Moore men need someone who is prepared to work with the panel for a number of seasons.

"We would certainly be looking at probably a three-year plan (for a manager), with a review after each year," he added.

"We'll have to look at a more long-term approach, because at the moment we can't keep changing managers. It can't always be the manager's fault."