McDonnell appointed Offaly football manager

Emmet McDonnell from Westmeath has been appointed as Offaly's new senior football manager.

The Offaly County Board have moved quickly to install a permanent boss after interim boss Tom Coffey had to withdraw his candidacy.

Coffey admitted that work commitments prevented him from considering the full-time role.

"I sat down with my employers Tullamore Motors and we agreed that it would have been impossible to do them both," Coffey told the Irish Daily Star.

"It's a new business, only up and running eight months, and it needs 100%. Employment is employment and in the current climate it has to come first.

"I was made to get it (the Offaly senior position). I had done three years with the U-21s, two with the minors and four with the club so it was a natural progression."

Coffey succeeded Gerry Cooney on an interim basis prior to this summer's Championship campaign, however the Faithfuls suffered back-to-back defeats and were out of the Championship by the end of June.

They were beaten 0-19 to 0-6 by Kildare in their Leinster SFC quarter-final clash and then fell to Tipperary (1-12 to 0-10) in the opening round of the All-Ireland qualifiers.

A statement from the Offaly County Board, released last night, confirmed that McDonnell has been recommended for the managerial position.

The current manager of Meath intermediate team Ballinabrackey, he has had a successful run with underage sides in his native Westmeath and Offaly.

McDonnell guided the St Mary's secondary school footballers from Edenderry to their first Hogan Cup title earlier this year, and also secured two Leinster Colleges crowns with them.

A four-person committee - Pat Teehan, Martin Boland, Fr Sean Heaney and Dave Kavanagh - was put in place to recommend Offaly's new manager for the 2013 season.

Full details of McDonnell's backroom team will be released at a later date, according to the Offaly GAA statement.