O'Shea steps down for work and family

SHORTLY BEFORE 4pm yesterday Pat O'Shea sat down with Kerry County Board chairman Jerome Conway in Killarney. O'Shea had effectively given himself one month to consider his future as Kerry senior football manager following the narrow All-Ireland defeat to Tyrone, and his mind was now made up.

"He just told me he was stepping down because of family and work reasons," Conway last night explained. "He has quite a young family and, as everyone knows, the Kerry manager is quite an onerous job, very time-consuming, and his work also takes him out of the county quite a lot.

"He felt that after two years he had done his stint and it was time to take a break, and let somebody else take over.

"Naturally, I told him we'd like him to stay on for another year, but he had his mind made up, and that was that.

"So I'd just like to say I regret his stepping down, because he was an excellent coach. He had a tremendous record with Kerry over the two years, and we're all sad to see him go."

Kerry thus find themselves searching for a new football manager for the third time in five years. Conway said the process of appointing a replacement would begin as soon as possible.

O'Shea guided the team to the 2007 All-Ireland title in his first year in charge, following on from the 2006 All-Ireland of his predecessor, Jack O'Connor.

Despite losing both the League final to Derry and the Munster final to Cork this year, Kerry's quest for a three-in-a-row was eventually only undone in the All-Ireland decider by Tyrone.

However there were testing times as well, particularly with the controversy surrounding county captain Paul Galvin and his lengthy suspension and appeal process. O'Shea was critical of the treatment of that incident by certain sections of the media.

Aged 42, it was clear from the outset O'Shea was taking on a lot, as he received special dispensation to combine the management job with that of Games Officer with the Munster Council - a position which sees him travel extensively throughout the province.

During his first year with Kerry he also stayed in charge of his club, Dr Crokes, as they progressed to the All-Ireland club final, eventually losing out to Crossmaglen. When he won the All-Ireland title with Kerry later that year he became the first person from Dr Crokes to do so since Dr Eamonn O'Sullivan in 1964.

O'Shea learned much of the football trade with Dr Crokes, winning a county title as a player in 1991 and going to capture the All-Ireland club title.

Born and raised in the shadow of Fitzgerald Stadium, he was also a former underage basketball international, and coached the Kerry minors in 2002.

O'Shea's backroom team of Dave Geaney, Seán Geaney and trainer John Sugrue may be considered in some capacity for the sake of continuity. Seán Geaney guided Kerry to the All-Ireland under-21 title earlier this year and is an obvious candidate for some role.

The rumour mill, however, was already in full swing last night with talk that former multiple All-Ireland winners Eoin Liston and Ger O'Keeffe would be going forward as a joint ticket.

There were also suggestions that Jack O'Connor could be enticed back after stepping down, somewhat surprisingly, in November of 2006 despite having led Kerry to three All-Irelands - winning two - during his three-years in charge.

In the meantime, in other managerial news, former Fermanagh manager Charlie Mulgrew and former county star Declan Bonner look set to be ratified as the new Donegal management team at Monday's county board meeting.

Bonner was manager from 1998 to 2000, guiding them to the Ulster final in his first year. It is also understood Seán Clearkin will join Mulgrew and Bonner as a selector, while Conal Sheridan, from Omagh, who was involved as a trainer with Mulgrew's at Fermanagh, is set to assume that role.