Michael Moynihan
WE were going to say the merry-go-round continues when it comes to inter-county hurling managers, but there was a sudden halt last week.
No-one stepped down.
For a while it looked like every Sunday brought a different blood sacrifice. Offaly’s Joe Dooley. Clare’s Ger O’Loughline. Wexford’s Colm Bonnar. Laois’s Brendan Fennelly.
The relative quiet of the last fortnight isn’t fooling anyone, by the way. Expect more resignations before the end of the year.
That sparks one of the great GAA rituals: the installation of a new manager, with attendant hoopla optional. We like to claim a certain expertise in this tributary leading off the Association’s great river — ahem — so bear with us.
There are several ways vacancies can be filled. A simple announcement to the media is one way of operating, but most counties prefer a little light carnage along the way — to get rid of the bad blood, as they said in The Godfather.
To this end, a tidy little pantomime can often be played out at county board meetings around the country in the autumn of the year. Someone gets up to thank the departed for his sterling service to the county, sentiments which are loudly seconded and usually thirded into the bargain.
Then the fun begins. County boards with a fully developed sense of dramaturgy usually plant one of two red herrings among the delegates present, who leap to their feet when nominations are sought and proclaim the suitability of Heinz the Baron Claus Von Espy/Sarah Palin’s husband/ the redhead from Girls Aloud as county manager.
Once these intriguing possibilities are trampled underfoot, it is not uncommon to have the incumbent’s name tossed into the frame on the basis that one more year would give him a chance to really put his mark on the team.
Close observers say this gambit classically involves a delegate from a club geographically close to, but not actually that of, the manager himself, and that in the completely flowering of the manoeuvre, he may indeed come from the club of the stalking horse that everyone wants to take over, but only in 12 months’ time when the re-appointed incumbent has rid the county of some turbulent priests within the panel.
Keep an eye out within your own county. And do let us know of the local variations of the above ploy, won’t you?
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/8NQO8bPL1B4/post.aspx
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