The perfect hurling manager: A 44-year-old teacher who played full-back?

SHAKE ON IT: John Kiely shakes hands with Kilkenny manager Brian Cody after Limerick’s victory over the the Cats in the 2018 All-Ireland SHC quarter-final at Semple Stadium. But what are the criteria for making of a perfect manager? Picture: INPHO/Oisin Keniry

It’s around this time of year that a county secretary’s thoughts turn to freshening up management teams, and nowhere is that more important — or more fraught — than with its senior inter-county teams.

What are the criteria? They vary from county to county, of course, depending on a) the level of expectation for the team and b) the reality of those expectations, two realities which don’t coincide quite as often as you might think.