Nugent remains target as manager

Waterford hope to conclude their search for a new senior football manager next Monday night.

Currently the only senior team in the country without a manager in position for the new season, part of the reason for the delay is confirmation on the exact intentions of Pat Nugent, the man behind the breakthrough success of the Waterford under-21 footballers last summer.

Nugent had been approached to take over from Denis Walsh, the former Cork duel star who decided against putting his name forward for a third year in charge. Initially Nugent turned down the offer, but the selection committee of the county football board are keeping the door open as long as possible for him to fully reconsider the position.

The matter was discussed at a meeting on Monday, and, according to county secretary Séamus Grant, will be raised again next Monday, when the county hope to be in a position to put a final name forward for ratification.

It appears Nugent, however, remains their number one choice, primarily on the back of taking the county under-21 footballers to their first Munster title, where they beat Kerry, before falling to eventual All-Ireland champions Dublin.

But there appears to be no great urgency either, despite the fact that Waterford are in action in the McGrath Cup against Limerick on January 18th, and open their league National League campaign two weeks later.

It will be at least another week before newly appointed Dublin senior hurling manager Humphrey Kelleher finalises his backroom team for the coming season. Former selectors Mick O'Riordan and Tommy Ryan had been acting as caretaker managers since the surprise resignation of Marty Morris, although Kelleher is likely to bring in an entirely new management team.

That new management team will be ratified at the county board meeting on December 8th, at which point Kelleher is expected to have put his selection team in place.

Elsewhere, reigning All-Ireland club hurling champions Birr will head into their Leinster final on Sunday against O'Loughlin Gaels of Kilkenny with only slightly improved news regarding their list of injured players.

Simon Whelahan continues to be the most notable absentee and earlier this week underwent a major operation on the troublesome groin injury, which has kept him sidelined for several weeks. And Liam Power is another definite non-starter.

But Barry Whelahan has returned to training and is back doing some light hurling and may feature at some point.

Paul Molloy also missed the Leinster semi-final win over Castletown with a broken finger, and while his condition has improved he too is unlikely to start. It may mean that some of Birr's new generation, including 16-year-old defender Mark Quinlan, who appeared late in the semi-final, will again see some action on Sunday.