McEnaney keen to get on with the job

GAELIC GAMES:MEATH MAY have taken something of a giant leap in their own football history by appointing Séamus McEnaney as their new senior manager – the first man from outside the county to be handed the responsibility – but it's really only another small step towards completing what is now a largely universal practice.

Only five counties now remain faithful to the old tradition of not going outside their own county borders when appointing a football manager: Dublin, Kerry, Cork, Tyrone and Down.

There is little to suggest those five counties will be emulating Meath anytime soon and yet McEnaney’s appointment on Wednesday night reaffirms the theory that sometimes an outside man is better suited to the job than someone within.

The Monaghan native – who managed his home county for the past six years – was in the end the fairly unanimous choice of the club delegates in Meath, passed by 53 votes to 19.

But ever since Seán Boylan retired in 2005, ending a 23-year reign during which time Meath won four All-Ireland titles, the county hasn’t had the best of managerial records, including the process of appointing them: Eamon Barry succeeded Boylan but only lasted a year; Colm Coyle came in and took Meath to the All-Ireland semi-final in his first year before stepping down a season later; and Eamon O’Brien’s two years in charge ended controversially when he failed to garner enough support for a third season.

“I know that this is a huge decision for the Meath County Board, the clubs of Meath and the people of Meath to go outside to pick a manager,” admitted McEnaney yesterday, speaking for the first time since letting his name go forward for the Meath job.

“And I respect the opinion of Meath people that didn’t want to go outside Meath for a team manager. I totally respect that. Certainly there has been a slight bit of controversy. But I never got involved. And I had no concerns going into the meeting.

“I was confident that the Meath clubs were going to back this recommendation from the management committee.

“But what I would be saying now is that we need to get on with the job here. The most important thing now is the future of Meath football.”

What certainly helped McEnaney’s candidacy for the position was the make-up of his backroom team, which consists of former Meath All-Ireland winner Liam Harnan, who has just taken Skryne to the county title, Paul Grimley, who was a selector with Armagh in Joe Kernan’s All-Ireland winning management as well as in Kildare and Monaghan, and Martin McElkennon, the trainer and coach who has worked with a number of Ulster counties – with another selector, to be appointed from within Meath, to be decided at a later date.

“I have brought with me a very high standard of a backroom team,” added McEnaney. “Especially Liam Harnan, a true legend in Meath.

“And Liam Harnan is exactly today like he was in the ’80s: a no-nonsense approach, no grey area, you know where you stand, and I’m looking forward to working with Liam Harnan, the rest of my backroom team and this group of players. I certainly studied form before I decided to let my name go forward for this Meath job.”

It probably helped too that McEnaney wasn’t exactly too far outside of Meath, and although previously in charge of an Ulster county, lives just north of the Meath border.

However, only two so-called outside managers have managed to win All-Ireland football titles with non-native counties – Eugene McGee of Longford famously guided Offaly to their All-Ireland victory over Kerry in 1982, while Mayo native John O’Mahony managed Galway to two All-Ireland titles within four years, first in 1998, and again in 2001.

Galway have in fact developed something of a tradition now of appointing outside managers, at least in football, with the recent appointment of Kerry native and former Westmeath manager Tomás Ó Flatharta following both Armagh native Kernan and Mayo native Peter Ford – with only Liam Sammon breaking that recent trend.

Galway have however just re-appointed a native man as their new county under-21 hurling manager, with former county player Anthony Cunningham in charge for the next two years, along with selectors Pat O’Connor and Brian Hanley.

Cunningham, in fact, won an All-Ireland minor medal in 1983 and an under-21 medal in 1986 during his time as a Galway player.