Tuesday 1 April 2008

Vote of confidence for McGeeney – who needs it?

Five games into the league and we are already in the silly season in terms of county managers.
Of course this year the managerial merry go round started earlier than most given that Teddy Holland didn’t even get the chance to lead his team out on to the field after the Cork players’ strike.
With John Maughan stepping down after two and half years at the helm in Roscommon after some very sharp criticism from fans Armagh man Kieran McGeeney is already experiencing the ‘vote of confidence’ speech from the chair of the Kildare County Board Syl Merrins.
The Kildare chair quite rightly pointed out that although the Lilywhites face relegation that McGeeney is only a few months into the job of rebuilding a side whose fortunes have been on the wane since reaching the All-Ireland final ten years ago.
It is a long time since anyone worried about facing Kildare and McGeeney has a big task in making them a force to be reckoned with again.
If I was McGeeney however, I would be more than a bit concerned that the chair felt he had to make comments backing him so early in his reign.
The Armagh man will know better than most that the chair’s robust defence is a signal that there is unease in the county and that a good championship run is probably the only thing which can keep the wolves from the door.
I think it’s nonsense for anyone to suggest that McGeeney is doing anything other than a good job so early in the season given the players he has at his disposal but in a country where you can be forced to resign without even a ball being thrown in it should come as no surprise.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

mcgeeney is a legend and given the right time will become a great manager....he will prob take Armagh to Sam again in the future!

Sean Mag Uidhir said...

I agree that McGeeney is a legend and he drove the Armagh side on at times through sheer will to win. It's clear from Oisin McConville's book that he was held in high regard as a player and a captain and a friend. He was able to affect things on the field of play, management is a different game as it is difficult to bring the level of intensity to it that he brought to playing. I hope he will succeed and saw him before Christmas when I was meeting an Armagh man who believed that he was his county's lost leader.

Anonymous said...

Armagh have defintinely struggled this year without McGeeney and the Cross lads...but take a man like this from any team in Ireland and they will struggle...

Sean Mag Uidhir said...

Most teams in Ireland struggle when they lose a leader of the calibre of McGeeney but it's what makes Kerry and the Cats so great, no matter who they lose they are usually back within a couple of seasons up there with the best again,they just seem to keep producing great players