Now that Antrim have filled their managerial vacancy, all Ulster eyes turn to Monaghan to see what rabbit they can pull out of the hat to fill the ‘Bainsteoir’ jersey.
ake no mistake, the Monaghan job is not only prestigious, but there is an irresistible quality to it as well – that of a genuine chance of success and inheriting a Division One team with genuine class acts.
In many ways, the heavy lifting with Monaghan is already done.
Take this year’s Ulster champions, Derry. Covid has skewed our sense of timing, but it was only 21 months ago that Rory Gallagher was taking charge of his first Championship game for Derry. In that time he turned them from a team that had just won promotion from Division Four and hadn’t won an Ulster Championship game since 2015, into Ulster champions.
With Monaghan, all that spadework is there. While some might believe Seamus McEnaney achieved nothing in his second spell as manager, retaining Division One status while refreshing the team was a brilliant effort from him and his coaching staff.
It’s when you consider who might come in now, that it occurs to you how small the pool of potential managers is.
The supporters would undoubtedly look kindly on a return for Malachy O’Rourke, but he appears very content in his role at Derry champions, Glen.
After that, you are looking at a rotating cast.
Take the following names; Aidan O’Rourke, Rory Gallagher, Mickey Harte, Malachy O’Rourke, Jack Cooney, Paddy Tally, Andy McEntee, Kieran McGeeney, Seamus McEnaney, Stephen Rochford, Jack O’Connor, Cian O’Neill, Terry Hyland, Kieran Donaghy, Stephen Poacher, Anthony Cunningham, John Evans, Jason Ryan, Glen Ryan, Ryan McMenamin, John Maughan, Niall Carew.
22, and counting. All men who have either managed, or been involved in a backroom team of a different county. In the case of Donaghy, McGeeney and Cunningham, they have also crossed codes with Cunningham and Donaghy’s time in with the Galway hurlers and McGeeney’s work with Tipperary.
Some have been to multiple counties. Tally has been with Tyrone, Down as a coach, Derry, Down as manager, and now Kerry.
Niall Carew is now on his fourth county having served in various roles with Kildare, Sligo, Waterford and now Carlow.
Why are these men all in such demand? Given there’s 22 of them, it cannot be the case that they are all successful.
Other sports have a similar manpower shortage.
For a number of years, the Premier League was awash with a certain middle to late aged cohort of managers that were seen as ‘steady hands’ to be awarded a job in mid-season once a more ambitious appointment ran aground.
We’re talking about the likes of Tony Pulis, Alan Pardew, David Moyes, Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson, Mark Hughes. For a decade or so, they were engaged in a bizarre job-swap system. Of that group, at least two managed Stoke, Fulham, Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion, Everton, Newcastle, Blackburn, West Ham, Sunderland and the English national team.
It is no coincidence that the English soccer system lagged behind others for tactical sophistication, leading to the inevitable tournament exits and soul-searching.
It’s more nuanced in Gaelic football. Because a lot of the aforementioned are working through each other, stepping up into manager roles or down into coaching roles, there is a very healthy culture of information sharing.
And anyway, success is all relative.
In nine seasons in charge of Monaghan and two with Meath, McEnaney didn’t manage to win a single provincial title. But that ignores all he did to raise the standards in both counties and it is easy to forget the 2012 Leinster final, where Meath ran All-Ireland champions Dublin to three points.
Other counties wouldn’t be content with just that.
Take the case of Mayo. It became apparent in 2021 that their fanbase, so previously dizzy and delirious with the prospect of actually winning an All-Ireland, expected it to finally happen once they slayed the Dublin beast.
That it didn’t happen, with Tyrone winning the final, left them sore. They don’t want to hear about hard-luck stories, they just want Sam.
If Jim McGuinness has not been contacted about this role, then a sizeable portion of the Mayo support will wonder why.
By the time the 2023 season starts, McGuinness will have been out of intercounty Gaelic football coaching for eight entire seasons. You sense that if he does not come back into the fold now, where is his coaching career going? Especially since it has been over three years since he was sacked as Charlotte Independence manager with just one win in 14 games.
Who else could Mayo go for? Which brings us back to our question of a limited pool of managers.
These are individuals that are highly-skilled, experienced, with lives built around their involvement in amateur sport, albeit at an elite level.
The bizarre thing however, is how their futures are decided. A county board can go and source a manager, but the appointment depends on the ongoing approval of club delegates to the county board.
Club delegates may fill a difficult position in their club, but what qualifies these individuals to run the rule over a high-performance culture that a manager is seeking to create?
Sometimes, it can go horribly wrong, such as Down delegates not giving sufficient approval to Paddy Tally to continue as manager.
And while Down blunder on, where is Tally?
Preparing for his third All-Ireland final, as a coach of Kerry.
