Wallace quits Antrim role

Antrim senior hurling manager Jerry Wallace has offered his resignation to the County Board in the midst of their 2012 Championship campaign.

The Saffrons were knocked out of the Leinster Championship by Westmeath three weeks ago, but still have an All-Ireland SHC qualifier to play against either Limerick or Laois on Saturday, June 30.

They are also due to defend their Ulster SHC crown on Sunday, July 8 with Down, Armagh or Derry providing the opposition. Frankie Quinn and Collie McFaul are expected to form an interim management team.

Wallace was only in the job barely six months. He replaced Dinny Cahill as the Saffrons boss last October, securing a two-year term with an option to extend that for a further year.

His decision to leave comes shortly after Gregory O'Kane and Terence 'Sambo' McNaughton quit their roles in the backroom team.

A short statement from the Antrim County Board read: "The Antrim County Board thank Jerry Wallace for his efforts over the last six months and we wish him well in future.

"The Coiste Banaiste of the county will meet in the coming days to decide on how best to respond to this emerging situation. Jerry made a huge commitment to Antrim hurling and it is appreciated."

Notably, an incident during Antrim's defeat to Westmeath led to Wallace reportedly contacting members of RTÉ's 'The Sunday Game' team in order to 'deflate' their coverage of it.

The Saffrons' regular full-back Cormac Donnelly, who missed the game through injury, acted as a 'maor foirne' in Mullingar. But he was sent to the stands by referee Anthony Stapleton following an on-the-field incident, and duly hit with an eight-week ban.

Speaking to the Irish News, Wallace explained: "On the day of the match I approached the RTÉ crew that were there for 'The Sunday Game' and asked them could they lose that video but their director of sport had already got ahead of me and made sure they had it.

"I had met with Brian Carthy who had done commentary on the match for RTÉ. I rang three of the analysts who were working for 'The Sunday Game' so that when it came up they would deflate it."

However, in a statement published in the Irish Examiner today, RTÉ refuted Wallace's claims. "RTÉ can confirm that none of 'The Sunday Game' panellists on the programme featuring Antrim v Westmeath on the weekend of May 19/20 received any contact from (Antrim manager) Jerry Wallace," the statement said.

"In addition, none of the RTÉ Sport crew were approached regarding the footage from the game by Jerry Wallace as alleged.

"RTE is not aware of any county in the past contacting 'The Sunday Game' panellists in an attempt to influence their opinions on our programming. Our editorial independence is of the upmost importance to us right across our sports coverage."