McEnaney won’t be forced to face Meath board

Meath County Board secretary Cyril Creavin has revealed it will be up to senior manager Seamus McEnaney as to whether he chooses to address club delegates at next month’s board meeting over issues that affected the Royals football squad during their 2011 campaign, the Irish Examiner has reported.

Several delegates at last Monday’s county board meeting sought for the former Monaghan boss to attend the September meeting of the board.

However, Creavin, who expects McEnaney to remain at the helm for the 2012 season, insists they will not pressurise McEnaney and he will make his own decision on the matter.

"It was proposed on Monday night that Seamus come in to attend the September meeting. It’s up to him as to whether he’ll be willing to attend that meeting. He has indicated that before but it is his choice now.

"It’s an awkward situation really and one hard to call. There were two viewpoints really from the delegates who proposed he talks at the September meeting.

On the one hand, you had some delegates who were against his appointment from the start who are looking for him to explain certain things that happened during the season.

"Then, on the other hand, there is the positive side, with the delegates that were backing Seamus full square from the word go and are looking for his overall thoughts on the season. Either way, I think he will stay in charge. That is something he had indicated."

Creavin also outlined the board will be looking for two homegrown selectors in the county senior set-up next year, one of those to act as assistant manager.

Several delegates called for answers as to why selectors Liam Harnan and Barry Callaghan tendered their resignations during the season, but Creavin believes it’s time for all those associated with football in the county "to move on and stop raking over the coals of the past".

"The issue about the two Meath selectors (Harnan and Callaghan) who tendered their resignations this season was spoken about for quite a while on Monday.

But the feeling at the end of that particular discussion, and it was something suggested by several delegates, is that we need to forget about it now and move on.

"We need to stop raking over the coals of the past and concentrate on moving forward. The agreement for next year is that there will be two local Meath people as selectors, one of those acting as assistant manager. Tom Keague was brought on board during the 2011 season and I’m sure he’d be anxious to stay on in that position."