OUTGOING SELECTORS FRANNY Forde and Noel Larkin were last night due to be offered the opportunity to take charge of the Galway senior hurlers for next year as the Tribesmen try to bring an end to their managerial crisis.

Former All-Star and Galway manager Noel Lane was tasked by hurling board delegates to meet the pair last night and see if they would reconsider their decision to withdraw as nominees.

Delegates at a meeting of Galway hurling board on Friday night opted not to seek further nominations from clubs and instead ask Forde and Larkin, who have served as selectors with manager Micheál Donoghue for the past four seasons, to take charge.

It is understood that if they accept, then a meeting of  Galway hurling board will be convened, possibly as early as tomorrow night, and Forde and Larkin put before it for acceptance before going to the county board for ratification.

It’s not envisaged that there will be a formal interview process if the pair accept and it is also believed that requests for existing board officers to step aside will not be entertained.

Larkin and Forde withdrew from the race to succeed Donoghue last week, shortly after the only other nominee, former U-21 manager Tony Ward, also stepped down.

If Forde and Larkin opt not to go forward then another meeting of Galway hurling board will have to be called and a decision taken to ask clubs to make further nominations.

However, many officers and delegates are hopeful that Forde and Larkin will take charge following their meeting with former Galway star Lane.

Lane, scorer of the goals which clinched the 1987 and ’88 All-Ireland final wins, has operated as a liaison officer between Donoghue’s management team and board officials over the past year, a job which became more crucial as relationships broke down.

Delegates at Friday night’s meeting felt that Lane was the best equipped to find a compromise which might see Galway fill their senior management role following Donoghue’s surprise resignation in August.