Offaly football boss Richie Connor has stepped down from his post after just five months in charge, saying he wished to avoid conflict between the players after a vote of no confidence was formally tabled by members of the senior panel.
The 1992 All-Ireland winning captain tendered his resignation to Offaly chairman Pat Teehan yesterday, his decision coming after a meeting with the players on Saturday in Tullamore arranged by Teehan .
Twenty-four members of the senior panel attended, where a statement was read out saying that 22 of them had met up on Friday night to discuss the situation.
A vote of no confidence was put forward in the management of Connor and his selectors Mark Plunkett and Ollie Daly. When asked by Teehan to expand on their reasons for their vote of no confidence, the players refused to respond and 20 of them walked out of the meeting, according to a statement from the Offaly county board.
The statement also pointed out that some of the players who walked out have contacted Connor and county board officials to say they did not agree with the course of action.
According to Connor, 19 of those players had committed to a training session planned for this morning at Walsh Island, which was subsequently cancelled due to the bad weather.
Connor then released a statement of his own this afternoon which outlined his reasons for stepping aside.
Connor said: “I tendered my resignation as Offaly Senior football manager to Pat Teehan, Chairman of Offaly County Board, this afternoon. While I regret this course of action I feel it is in the best interest of Offaly football.
“I and my Team Management have now decided that in order to avoid conflict among the footballers themselves we will step aside.
“I would sincerely hope that if players have a grievance in the future they would afford the manager the courtesy of bringing it to his attention, before putting it in the public domain”.
Thanking his backroom staff, Connor also acknowledged Teehan for his support. He finished up by wishing the players and his successor “every success in the future”.
Teehan paid tribute to Connor stating that he “owed Offaly football nothing” but added that it was regretful that he had not been afforded a reasonable opportunity to give back some of his vast experience.
Teehan concluded by saying it was a very disappointing day for Offaly football and called a County Committee meeting for tomorrow night to start the process of finding a successor for Connor.