Andy McEntee opens up on his brother Shane's death and implores online trolls to think before they act

Former Meath manager McEntee has pleaded with faceless critics and online trolls to think twice before penning poisonous Tweets and letters.

15 January 2022; Former Meath manager Andy McEntee. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Former Meath manager Andy McEntee has pleaded with faceless critics and online trolls to think twice before penning poisonous Tweets and letters.

McEntee stepped down after six seasons earlier this month and revealed he'd received abusive letters to his home at various stages.

The Nobber man said he also read a claim online that he was 'well paid' for managing Meath, insisting the reality is that he 'never sought or received a penny from the Meath county board'.

In an emotional interview with The GAA Social podcast, McEntee spoke about his TD brother Shane's death by suicide in 2012 and speculated that criticism of the government at the time weighed heavily on him.

McEntee said: "You've got to fancy they had a big impact, I mean I don't think anybody really knows. You never really know. I was at lunch with him the day before. Myself and Catherine, my wife, and Shane and Kathleen...Catherine and Shane's birthdays were close enough together so we got into the habit of going to lunch around about that time. When Tony rang me the morning that Shane died, I knew straight away. He didn't have to say anything.

"He was in bad form, he was in bad form. I knew and I remember saying it to him that he was in bad form. He didn't want to talk about it.

"It's hard to know, it really is hard to know. I don't think we'll ever get to the real bottom of it. He had a lot of huge positives in his life, fantastic family, everything, doing a job that he seemed to really like.

"Everybody was so proud of him. You just never know what's going through people's heads. A lot of the (critical) stuff that goes round surely has an impact somewhere along the line."

Asked what he would like to say to online trolls and anonymous letter writers, McEntee implored them to think twice before acting.

He said the experience of inter-county management has been soured by the constant criticism and commentary.

McEntee said: "I couldn't see myself managing another county. One of the problems with all the social media attention and all this sort of stuff, it's becoming less and less attractive."

On the failed attempts by county board officials to remove him from his position last October, McEntee was scathing.

He said: "The timing of it all was incredible, and the lack of planning and the lack of foresight. I was talking to someone recently and they said, 'They were even too stupid to organise a decent coup'."