Galway manager John O'Mahony will decide his future with the team within the next 10 days in the wake of the weekend's All-Ireland final replay defeat. The Mayoman, who guided Galway to a first All-Ireland in 32 years in 1998, is at the end of his original period of appointment.

"In the dressing-room afterwards I told the players that my three years were now up and that I would look at it again and decide in the next seven to 10 days. If the county board want to find a new manager, they'll need time with the league starting so soon. But in the immediate aftermath of the weekend, I need a bit of a space to decide.

"I said that with the quality of players coming through and when injuries have cleared up, I certainly think that the team has a great chance of another shot at the All-Ireland. I also pointed out that Galway had won All-Irelands long before I arrived and that the county will continue to win All-Irelands after I go."

Galway's season wasn't the luckiest. Tomas Mannion, their top defender during the All-Ireland win of two years ago, was forced to retire because of injury and after the first round in Connacht, Jarlath Fallon ruptured his cruciate ligament. Kevin Walsh was injured for a long time this season and, on regaining fitness and having played a crucial role in securing the All-Ireland draw, injury forced him out of the replay for over half an hour.

For Galway - and presumably Kerry as well - the prospect of the National League commencing in under three weeks is fairly depressing.

"It's very hard to resume matches three weeks after playing in an All-Ireland. You can say that the League doesn't matter but that's not the way people look at it. If the new champions lose three matches before Christmas everyone says they must be celebrating too much, that they've lost their focus. If the finalists lose, they're all falling out with each other. The introduction of a calendar year would be a big help."

While O'Mahony considers his options, he has been critical of arrangements for All-Ireland finalists, specifically the post-match presentation on the pitch. For the first time this year, the losing finalists received presentations on the victory dais before the new champions were presented with the Sam Maguire trophy.

"Going through the aftermath was very hard. I thought the scene on the pitch was terrible, outrageous. I was so annoyed even in the middle of coming to terms with an All-Ireland defeat.

"We wanted simply to fade out of it rather than walk out in front of our supporters in the 63,000 crowd and force them to see their team with their heads down after such a huge disappointment. The players want to be with their own people."

The GAA had accepted before the hurling final, when the innovation was introduced, that the idea might not find favour with defeated finalists and said that it would be reviewed in time.

The aim of the procedure was to address safety concerns, but it hasn't found much favour amongst GAA people. According to O'Mahony: "I don't remember anything happening because of the crowds that gather around. All the problems that have happened at sports venues have been within the viewing areas and behind fences. The stewards should have the wherewithal to control crowds without banning them altogether.

"There should be - and I suppose there will be after the rebuilding (of Croke Park) - a presentation platform at the top of steps, but people should be allowed on to the field."

One advantage of the crowded schedule at the weekend was that both counties were able to return home in daylight hours and complete the homecoming at a reasonable time. It also enabled the teams to avoid the post All-Ireland lunch, which has come to be regarded as a bit of a chore, particularly for losing teams.

"When you win an All-Ireland," said O'Mahony, "all you want is to get home. And when you lose you don't want to be anywhere."

The Limerick County Board must decide tonight if they want to appoint a fulltime secretary. There was surprise at the weekend when James Hartigan, who has acted as secretary since 1987, informed the board that he would not be seeking re-election at the December convention. Board chairman, Donal Fitzgibbon, said there was now a huge workload to be undertaken and perhaps the time had come to appoint a full-time person.

Due to an error in the editing process, John O'Mahony was erroneously referred to as John Maughan in the All-Ireland reaction piece in yesterday's paper.