GAA:The Fermanagh footballers will have a new man at the helm next year after John O'Neill confirmed his retirement as manager last night.
O’Neill had been given a three-year term last September but after what the county board described as a “difficult year” the Lisnakea Emmetts man has decided to call it a day.
Events both on and off the pitch didn’t help O’Neill’s cause, with the former under-21 manager having to deal with players making themselves unavailable while results in the league were far from encouraging.
Any hopes of a more successful run in the championship were quickly dashed by Derry before the Erne County was dumped out of the qualifiers by London.
Accepting O’Neill’s resignantion, the county board extended its “gratitude and appreciation to John O’Neill and his backroom team for their work with the county panel throughout what was a difficult year.
“CLG Fhear Manach wish John and his management team every success in the future.”
Elsewhere, both Clare and Limerick will close the deal on their new hurling managements this evening when Davy Fitzgerald’s and John Allen’s names come before their respective county boards, and in Fitzgerald’s case, there are some interesting names linked with him.
Fitzgerald was the sole candidate presented for the Clare position vacated this summer by Ger O’Loughlin, and having ended his own term with Waterford, was always odds-on to return to his native county.
Allen’s appointment in Limerick also looks a formality, given he was the preferred choice of the independent three-man committee set up by the county board to find a successor to Donal O’Grady, who stepped aside after his intended one year in charge.