IN THE MIDDLE of July, the Wexford county board announced that Derek McGrath had been the favoured candidate to succeed Keith Rossiter as the new senior hurling manager.
The press release noted that their choice had been ratified by club delegates, and he was given a three-year term. There was a little bit of bumph about how the county board believe he is the man to steer them to better times, and the final line that he would be finalising his backroom team.
It sounds like a starter’s gun going off, but in reality McGrath would have already identified and sounded out at least a couple of people he wanted in his backroom team in the event of getting the gig.
Six weeks later, following another county board meeting, Wexford were confirming that John Hegarty would continue as football manager, Ronan Joyce was in charge of the U20 hurling side and Dylan Gregan for the U20 football team.
They also confirmed that McGrath was bringing in Paul Morris, James Quirke and Gavin O’Brien, all termed as ‘coach’, with Joey O’Brien as Head of Athletic Development.
The shift in language was subtle but notable. Any senior intercounty set-up now is a serious business. The old image of a ‘selector’, standing with arms folded with half an eye on training is over.
There has never been more scrutiny on the make-up and identity of backroom individuals. It has become a cross that managers perish on.
You don’t have to look long for the evidence. In recent weeks the Monaghan football manager Gabriel Bannigan departed from his role over this very issue.
He claimed that he sat with the county board six weeks before his resignation and they were all for him continuing for a third year. He said he wanted to make some changes to his backroom team and that they backed it.
After a period of six weeks, he sat down with the county board and confirmed that, “It was very clear to me that it was a different room now. It was very clear to me that the support that was there five or six weeks ago wasn’t there now.”
In his first year, he had Andy Moran as coach. When he departed at the end of 2025 the race was on to replace him. Bannigan worked the phones and got more than one refusal. Eventually, former Meath and Antrim manager Andy McEntee joined.
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McEntee’s move has become commonplace. Managers have become comfortable switching from a frontline role to one within a coaching ticket.
Such as the 2020 Ulster winning Cavan manager Mickey Graham who departed as Leitrim boss on 8 October 2024, just two months after taking on the role. Less than three weeks later he fetched up as a coach of Galway, under Pádraic Joyce.
Then there was the spectacular story of Paddy Tally. Deemed surplus to requirements after one season in charge of Derry, he was picked up by the incoming Mayo manager Andy Moran and finished 2026 as a coach who has now won All-Ireland titles with Tyrone, Kerry and Mayo.
An area of ongoing friction lies when the world of coaching meets with administration. Often, there is a lack of understanding between the two, something that was brought into sharp focus when Jimmy Lee stepped away last week from the Limerick manager’s role.
“The biggest disappointment for me during my tenure was the relationship with the Limerick football board,” read some of his parting shot, adding, “The football board never fully supported the entire management team; in truth, it was a constant battle. I had put forward coaches’ names for positions on my management team that they did not want to appoint because of their personal views, rather than considering the skill sets that these coaches brought to the setup.
“Standing my ground for the benefit of Limerick football was not popular and inevitably damaging to my relationship with the football board.”
Even having a strong backroom doesn’t mean it can stay in place forever. There is a constant pressure to introduce new voices, to freshen it up and approach each season as a new challenge.
New voices
After a disappointing Liam MacCarthy title defence this year, Tipperary manager Liam Cahill announced on Monday night how they have balanced the departures of TJ Ryan, David Herity and Declan Laffan by bringing in Aidan Stakelum, coach of Laois hurlers this year when they won the Joe McDonagh Cup, Seán O’Meara and Brian O’Meara.
Performance coach in 2025, Dublin native Paul O’Brien has been added to the coaching side of things.
Strength and conditioning coach Angelo Walsh has been replaced by John Murphy from Clara in Kilkenny. Diarmuid Cahill comes in as goalkeeping coach. Mikey Bevans remains a constant presence.
All of these appointments are hugely significant. There will not be any social loafing in this set-up, but one more addition arguably is even more significant; the addition of Anne-Marie Kennedy as Performance Coach.
In an era when Limerick’s All-Ireland hurling titles coincide with the seasons that Caroline Currid is embedded, this is not an easily defined role, but one that appears crucial.
Limerick Performance Coach, Caroline Currid. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Kennedy has filled many roles with different Irish sporting bodies, but the role that attracts the Thurles woman to Tipp was the work she did with Jim Gavin in Dublin as they won five consecutive All-Ireland football titles.
When you consider where Gaelic Games are at, an obvious cause for concern is how counties expect the very best of backrooms, but only a select band can be proven winners.
Recruitment has become a living nightmare for county boards. Expectations have never been higher and those in demand can be acutely aware of their worth.
Rising costs
In the middle of the back and forth last week over integration, GAA President Jarlath Burns mentioned the €45 million figure that is the current spend on intercounty football and hurling.
It’s a figure that has jumped by over a third in just six years. Will it become €60 million by 2032? What’s stopping it?
While Ben O’Connor recently moved to add Cian O’Neill to his Cork hurling management, there was some lateral thinking, balanced by O’Neill’s hurling experience as a coach when Tipperary won the 2010 All-Ireland.
Incoming Cork hurling coach, Cian O'Neill. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Right now, all the prominent hurling counties are almost locked and loaded for 2027.
In football, Longford, Limerick, Galway and Monaghan have yet to appoint managers.
The calls to prospective managers have already been made.
All trying to land the bullseye with a dart, all entirely unsure of how the chemistry might work between management and boards, and within the management itself.
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How GAA county managers now live and die by their ability to assemble a backroom
IN THE MIDDLE of July, the Wexford county board announced that Derek McGrath had been the favoured candidate to succeed Keith Rossiter as the new senior hurling manager.
The press release noted that their choice had been ratified by club delegates, and he was given a three-year term. There was a little bit of bumph about how the county board believe he is the man to steer them to better times, and the final line that he would be finalising his backroom team.
It sounds like a starter’s gun going off, but in reality McGrath would have already identified and sounded out at least a couple of people he wanted in his backroom team in the event of getting the gig.
Six weeks later, following another county board meeting, Wexford were confirming that John Hegarty would continue as football manager, Ronan Joyce was in charge of the U20 hurling side and Dylan Gregan for the U20 football team.
They also confirmed that McGrath was bringing in Paul Morris, James Quirke and Gavin O’Brien, all termed as ‘coach’, with Joey O’Brien as Head of Athletic Development.
The shift in language was subtle but notable. Any senior intercounty set-up now is a serious business. The old image of a ‘selector’, standing with arms folded with half an eye on training is over.
You don’t have to look long for the evidence. In recent weeks the Monaghan football manager Gabriel Bannigan departed from his role over this very issue.
He claimed that he sat with the county board six weeks before his resignation and they were all for him continuing for a third year. He said he wanted to make some changes to his backroom team and that they backed it.
After a period of six weeks, he sat down with the county board and confirmed that, “It was very clear to me that it was a different room now. It was very clear to me that the support that was there five or six weeks ago wasn’t there now.”
In his first year, he had Andy Moran as coach. When he departed at the end of 2025 the race was on to replace him. Bannigan worked the phones and got more than one refusal. Eventually, former Meath and Antrim manager Andy McEntee joined.
McEntee’s move has become commonplace. Managers have become comfortable switching from a frontline role to one within a coaching ticket.
Such as the 2020 Ulster winning Cavan manager Mickey Graham who departed as Leitrim boss on 8 October 2024, just two months after taking on the role. Less than three weeks later he fetched up as a coach of Galway, under Pádraic Joyce.
Then there was the spectacular story of Paddy Tally. Deemed surplus to requirements after one season in charge of Derry, he was picked up by the incoming Mayo manager Andy Moran and finished 2026 as a coach who has now won All-Ireland titles with Tyrone, Kerry and Mayo.
An area of ongoing friction lies when the world of coaching meets with administration. Often, there is a lack of understanding between the two, something that was brought into sharp focus when Jimmy Lee stepped away last week from the Limerick manager’s role.
“The biggest disappointment for me during my tenure was the relationship with the Limerick football board,” read some of his parting shot, adding, “The football board never fully supported the entire management team; in truth, it was a constant battle. I had put forward coaches’ names for positions on my management team that they did not want to appoint because of their personal views, rather than considering the skill sets that these coaches brought to the setup.
Even having a strong backroom doesn’t mean it can stay in place forever. There is a constant pressure to introduce new voices, to freshen it up and approach each season as a new challenge.
New voices
After a disappointing Liam MacCarthy title defence this year, Tipperary manager Liam Cahill announced on Monday night how they have balanced the departures of TJ Ryan, David Herity and Declan Laffan by bringing in Aidan Stakelum, coach of Laois hurlers this year when they won the Joe McDonagh Cup, Seán O’Meara and Brian O’Meara.
Performance coach in 2025, Dublin native Paul O’Brien has been added to the coaching side of things.
Strength and conditioning coach Angelo Walsh has been replaced by John Murphy from Clara in Kilkenny. Diarmuid Cahill comes in as goalkeeping coach. Mikey Bevans remains a constant presence.
All of these appointments are hugely significant. There will not be any social loafing in this set-up, but one more addition arguably is even more significant; the addition of Anne-Marie Kennedy as Performance Coach.
In an era when Limerick’s All-Ireland hurling titles coincide with the seasons that Caroline Currid is embedded, this is not an easily defined role, but one that appears crucial.
Kennedy has filled many roles with different Irish sporting bodies, but the role that attracts the Thurles woman to Tipp was the work she did with Jim Gavin in Dublin as they won five consecutive All-Ireland football titles.
When you consider where Gaelic Games are at, an obvious cause for concern is how counties expect the very best of backrooms, but only a select band can be proven winners.
Recruitment has become a living nightmare for county boards. Expectations have never been higher and those in demand can be acutely aware of their worth.
Rising costs
In the middle of the back and forth last week over integration, GAA President Jarlath Burns mentioned the €45 million figure that is the current spend on intercounty football and hurling.
It’s a figure that has jumped by over a third in just six years. Will it become €60 million by 2032? What’s stopping it?
While Ben O’Connor recently moved to add Cian O’Neill to his Cork hurling management, there was some lateral thinking, balanced by O’Neill’s hurling experience as a coach when Tipperary won the 2010 All-Ireland.
Right now, all the prominent hurling counties are almost locked and loaded for 2027.
In football, Longford, Limerick, Galway and Monaghan have yet to appoint managers.
The calls to prospective managers have already been made.
All trying to land the bullseye with a dart, all entirely unsure of how the chemistry might work between management and boards, and within the management itself.
A Wild West of the intercounty frontier.
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