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Eamonn Barry, pictured on the sideline in 2006. INPHO/Cathal Noonan
Royal Rumble

Meath chief should go, not Banty, insists former manager

Eamonn Barry reckons tonight’s meeting in Navan should spell the end of the county chairman’s tenure.

FORMER MEATH FOOTBALL manager Eamonn Barry has called for county chief Barney Allen to be replaced.

County officials and delegates will meet tonight to vote on a proposal to remove senior football manager Seamus McEnaney, in the wake of the side’s relegation to Division 3.

Clubs and players have rallied behind Banty in recent days however and the coach insists he will not resign.

Now, Barry — coach in 2006 — reckons change must come ‘at the top table’.

“There is a mood for change all right,” he told TheScore this week, “but not in the management, the change has to be at the top table.”

Meath GAA legend Sean Boylan, meanwhile, is said to have been left embarrassed by the episode, as he’d been lined up to replace McEnaney. He quit as director of football recently, with Barry now insisting his efforts were frustrated in the position.

“I got the feeling that Sean’s efforts were being frustrated at every turn and he confirmed to me that the reason he stepped down was he was getting no support and little communication,” said Barry.

“I put it to Sean that Barney was using him to make it look as if he was doing something for underage football in Meath, and I still feel he is using Sean now to try and save his own skin by putting him forward as a replacement for Banty.”

The Meath County Committee and its management committee meet at Páirc Tailteann with a two-thirds majority required. We’ll have the news as it happens this evening.

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