GAELIC GAMES:THE DEPARTURE of Tipperary's All-Ireland winning management team, who yesterday stepped down after three years in charge, has created a void that county officials don't expect to fill for a number of weeks.

A sub-committee, consisting of the five most senior executive officers and the four divisional chairs will move quickly to identify the new manager and bring a recommendation to next month’s county board meeting, or a meeting specially convened to finalise the matter.

The news, which had been hinted at over the summer, nonetheless came as a surprise, with the county being informed finally on Wednesday night that manager Liam Sheedy, coach Eamon O’Shea and selector Michael Ryan would not be accepting the offer of a further two-year appointment, citing the pressure of “16-hour days” combining work and hurling commitments.

“It was a big surprise that they weren’t in a position to continue,” according to Tipperary PRO Ger Ryan. “Logically, we should have seen it coming, as they all have very busy jobs and couldn’t maintain the commitment they’d been putting in indefinitely.”

There had been suggestions that Sheedy would find it hard to remain on once this season finished, regardless of how the team fared, once he received a promotion within the Bank of Ireland in July which necessitates increased travelling.

O’Shea is an academic in NUI Galway, who has been scheduled for a while to travel abroad to undertake research work and had indicated that he would virtually certainly be ruled out of involvement next season.

Ryan is also exceptionally busy and whereas he isn’t believed to have tied his decision to Sheedy’s, whatever chance there might have been of his remaining on effectively vanished when the manager decided to step down.

“We are very disappointed,” according to Ryan, “but we have always enjoyed a very open relationship with Liam and his team.

“There was no last-minute, frantic negotiation. They knew that we would have facilitated them in any way we could. There were no issues. I wish there was because we would have solved them, but it just wasn’t physically possible for them to continue.

“There’s a lot more pressure on jobs in this economic climate and employers don’t have the margins to make allowances and none of them would have been comfortable reducing their efforts.”

Ryan also said that the adverse reaction to Tipperary’s heavy defeat in the Munster first round against Cork had left no lingering resentment amongst the management. “They are three hugely motivated and passionate guys. Everyone was shocked at the defeat in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but it wasn’t mentioned after the following Wednesday. The management said, ‘either we accept this as the outcome of the year – or we don’t’ and everyone knows what they decided to do.”

Players were informed of the management decision by text early yesterday morning before the press statement was released. “We just want to get it across that we can’t thank that man enough,” said centrefielder Shane McGrath.

“We’re so thankful for everything that he’s done and Eamon and Mick were a huge part of it. They helped us to realise our dream and instilled a belief in us that we could win the All-Ireland.

“We would have loved them to stay, but I have an understanding of the kind of work and commitment they have put in over the last three years. I don’t think anybody but their immediate families know the exact nature of it, but it wasn’t just the nights in training, it was also the other four or five nights a week with functions and various other things.”

Sheedy’s three years were very successful for Tipperary, who had lost to Wexford in the 2007 All-Ireland quarter-finals the year before he took charge. Munster titles followed in 2008 and ’09, an NHL title in ’08 and an incremental progress to the biggest prize of all – losing an All-Ireland semi-final to Waterford in ’08, the following year’s final to Kilkenny, before winning the MacCarthy Cup last month in a thrilling final, which prevented Kilkenny achieving a record five-in-a-row.

A simple, co-ordinated release from the county board yesterday laid out the announcement and the reaction. “Over the last three years we have given of our time on a voluntary basis to put in place a top-class professional set-up that would allow the players to develop, grow and be successful.

“Our aim when we took over was to take Tipperary hurling to a new level and we are very happy that we have achieved that.

“Hurling in Tipperary is in a very healthy state and the future is very promising. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve and we are delighted that Tipperary can look forward to more success with optimism.

“We all have responsible, demanding, professional jobs and we are very grateful to our employers for enabling us to carry out our role with Tipperary with such great support in what is a very challenging economic and working environment.

“However, we have found ourselves working up to 16-hour days in order to deliver in both roles and this is simply not sustainable on an ongoing basis. This has led to our decision to stand down.”

In response, the county board thanked the outgoing management. “Tipperary County Board is deeply grateful to Liam, Eamon and Michael for the excellent job they did while in charge of the senior hurling team. They brought extraordinary ability, commitment, pride and passion to their roles and they built a team that exhibited the same characteristics.

“While we are deeply disappointed with their decision, we totally respect it and we know it was a difficult one for them to make. We wish them and their families every success for the future and we look forward to them being able to make further contributions to the GAA in Tipp.”