Cork begin hunt to find Walsh's successor

GAA:A SIX-MAN appointment committee, with no player representation involved, has been selected to find the next Cork hurling manager.

The county board announced yesterday that Denis Walsh will not continue in the position for a fourth championship campaign. The decision was reached following Cork’s comprehensive defeat to Galway in the All-Ireland qualifiers on July 9th.

The name of Jimmy Barry -Murphy for a second term as Cork hurling manager has already been mentioned.

Barry-Murphy, one of the great dual players in GAA history, guided a minor team that included Donal Óg Cusack, Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Joe Deane and Timmy McCarthy to an All-Ireland title in 1995 before being promoted to the senior job. He delivered an AllIreland in 1999, with the aforementioned players involved, before stepping down in 2000.

Cork went on to win two more All-Irelands in 2004 and 2005, stalling the beginning of Kilkenny’s great era of dominance until 2006.

Walsh came in as manager in the Spring of 2009, in the wake of a long period of strife between the hurling panel and the county board officers.

They lost to Galway in the qualifiers in his first season. Despite reaching the Munster final last year, when they lost to Waterford, they were comprehensively beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final by Kilkenny.

This season Walsh controversially dropped Ó hAilpín from the panel. His younger brother Aisake also moved to Australia.

Ó hAilpín, now 34, has made it clear he would return if selected by a new manager.

This year, ultimately, proved to be Walsh’s third unsuccessful campaign as they were beaten by Tipperary, narrowly overcame Offaly before losing comprehensively to Galway 2-23 to 1-14.

“I wish to confirm that the appointment committee which has a responsibility for recommending the county senior hurling manager has decided that there will be a change of manager,” said Cork County Board chairman Jerry O’Sullivan in statement.

“Denis accepted the position graciously and offered to provide any assistance or advice in the transition period to the new manager, when appointed.”

The appointment of previous Cork hurling managers was the root cause for a stand-off between the county board and the players.

Last week club delegates voted against the proposal to allow a player representative to be involved in the selection process.

Instead, the six-man committee will be O’Sullivan, vice chairman Bob Ryan, secretary Frank Murphy and a representative from junior clubs (John Corcoran of St Mary’s), intermediate clubs (Michael Byrne of Ballyhale) and senior clubs (Pat Horgan of Middleton).

“I wish to place on record our sincere thanks to Denis for his trojan work on behalf of the county hurling team over the past two and a half years,” Sullivans statement continued. “He took up the challenging position at a difficult time, and with his team management colleagues put in enormous time and effort in preparing and developing the team panel.

“He at all times presented an excellent and courteous public image. Denis has given outstanding service to this county as both a great dual player, and as a manager/coach, and we know he will continue to serve the association well in various capacities in the future.

“I wish also to pay tribute to the other selectors, Pat Buckley, Jerry Ryan and Pa Finn and to the other members of Denis’s backroom team for their dedicated work during their term in office.”

No timescale has been placed on the six-man committee to come up with a candidate for ratification by the clubs.

A county board spokesman last night stated they do not expect any problems from the current hurling panel with regards to the clubs’ decision not to involve them in selecting the new manager.