The Offaly County Board last night accepted "with regret" the resignation of Michael Babs Keating as manager of the county's hurling side. This followed criticism of Keating by members of the Offaly team following their defeat by Kilkenny in the Leinster final at Croke Park last Sunday.
The Offaly board meeting last night considered the matter but postponed the appointment of a replacement manager for the All-Ireland quarter-final match.
Keating was unwilling, last night, to specify the reasons for his decision. "I had no intention of resigning when I left Croke Park on Sunday," he told The Irish Times last night. "Naturally I was profoundly disappointed with the result and I believed that we had not done ourselves justice but other matters intruded including some things which happened in the recent past. "I have never done anything which could possibly damage the image or the future of Offaly hurling or hurling anywhere. I wish the county well and I am not going to add anything to that other than to say that I am not pleased with several matters which have happened and I have made my decision on the basis of what has happened.
"There has been a negative attitude among some of the players who seemed to preferred rugby to hurling when it suited them but criticism of me in some newspapers, inspired by players, left me with no alternative to step down," he said. The announcement that Keating had stepped down as manager of the Offaly hurling team came hot on the heels of his criticism of the Offaly players immediately after the match.
His announcement, nevertheless, was surprising in view of the fact that Offaly are still in the championship. They will play Antrim or the Connacht champions - most likely Galway who play Roscommon on Saturday - in the All-Ireland quarter-finals, the so-called backdoor route which gives the beaten Leinster and Munster finalists a second chance.
Where Keating goes from here is unclear. For some time Keating and Nicky English were being suggested as a partnership which might restore their native county, Tipperary, to their former glory.
For the moment, at least, Offaly have been presented with a major dilemma. They will be in the drum when the draw for the All-Ireland quarter-finals is made live on RTE television next Sunday night. By then they hope to have a new team manager in place who can pick up the morale of the side following the disappointment and disruption of the weekend.
Keating is Offaly's third manager in three years following in the footsteps of Eamonn Cregan, who led them to All-Ireland success in 1994, and John McIntyre who was sacked last summer after just one season in charge. Indeed there was dissatisfaction in the camp over the way McIntyre was removed.
Meanwhile, Seamus Grant, who has been the secretary of the Waterford County Board since 1971, was yesterday facing up to an unprecedented situation for him as a queue for tickets for Sunday's Munster final against Clare formed outside his office. "I have never known anything like it. As well as my direct line there are two mobile telephone lines in here constantly engaged as people scramble to get tickets. I am told that the official capacity for Semple Stadium is 55,000 and I believe that that will be tested to the full on Sunday.
"As far as a place in the quarterfinals is concerned we are not letting that get in our way. We haven't won a Munster final since 1963 when we beat Tipperary by 0-11 to 0-8 in Limerick.
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