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Seamus McEnaney: under pressure after league relegation. INPHO/James Crombie
GAA

Players to back Banty as Royal row to rumble on

Sean Boylan, the mooted replacement for Seamus McEnaney, may be on the verge of throwing his hat at the situation.

MEATH GAA CHIEFS will meet tomorrow night to vote on a proposal to remove Royals senior football chief Seamus McEnaney from his position.

But there could well be a twist in the tale yet.

Legendary manager Sean Boylan was reportedly earmarked for a return to the job by the county committee but he may now be on the verge of walking away from the messy situation.

Clubs have been meeting over the last few days to mandate their delegates on which way to vote and at least three that would normally support the regime led by county chairman Barney Allen have changed tack. Dunshaughlin, the club of his secretary Cyril Creavin, have instructed their delegates to vote to keep Banty in the job.

“Allen is getting worried, and there are serious whispers that Sean will back off,” an insider said. “It seems he was approached initially and told that Banty was just about to resign from his job and that the county committee needed a quick replacement.

“Under those circumstances he was never going to refuse their plea for help, but now that it has dawned on him that Banty is going nowhere he is a little embarrassed at being seen to have taken a  job while Banty is still in it.

“There is a huge groundswell of opinion that Allen is at the root of Meath’s problems and should step down, whether that will translate into votes or not who knows. Delegates will have read articles from Colm O’Rourke and Trevor Giles over the last few days outlining where the real problems lie, at the top table and will have taken that on board,” he added.

In another development the Meath squad met last night and refused to issue any public statement on the current impasse, however each squad member agreed to return to his club and request them to vote in favour of Banty staying.

The insider revealed: “The players genuinely want continuity, they are adamant Banty should stay, Trevor Giles’ article in the Examiner last Friday sums up how they feel, but they did not want to be the first Meath team ever to make a public statement on anything.

“They hope that by speaking individually to their clubs they can influence enough votes that way to keep Banty where he is.”

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