The Cork County Board has turned its attention to the appointment of a senior hurling manager following the weekend resolution of the county football and hurling players' strike. Chairman Jim Forbes said the county hasn't a deadline or a firm list of candidates, but the matter will be given absolute priority over the coming weeks. Ian O'Riordan, reports.

"Naturally enough we'd like to get the new man in place before Christmas if we can," said Forbes yesterday. "We're not saying it's going to be easy to find the right man for the job, but I think it may help a little in that the new man can choose his own selection team, and also that all the outstanding issues with the players have been resolved."

Forbes is part of a seven-man committee (four board officers and three elected from the floor of the county board) who will carry out the interviews over the coming days and weeks. Also included is the outgoing chairman Jim Cronin, county secretary Frank Murphy, and county treasurer Pearse Murphy, along with Liam Ó Tuama (Glen Rovers), Martin Bowen (Erins Own), and Tom Dorgan (Clyda Rovers).

There has already been much speculation about the most suitable candidates to succeed Bertie Óg Murphy, including former Cork players like Gerald McCarthy and John Fenton, but Forbes insists that no one has been especially targeted at this stage.

"Of course there have been a lot of names thrown around," he said. "Maybe 20 different people, and they could all be eminently suitable. But basically we have to go through them one by one, and find the one most suited, and who wants to take it."

Forbes is confident, however, that the recent agreements reached on the players' issues will help ensure a smooth transition for the new management team, and also get the players back focused on their game.

"I'd be very happy now about the future. The last meeting (on Friday) was very positive, from the point of view of the players and the county executive.

"It's up to us all now to move things forward, and obviously the most important thing now is to appoint a new senior hurling manager.

"The footballers are happy in that their management team is in place, and they can start training whenever they want. They hurlers are different and are waiting to get the new management team in place. There wouldn't be a whole lot of training done around Christmas, but you'd want to be starting into it in the first week or so of January."

The only date that has been mentioned for a possible appointment is the next full meeting of the county board next Monday, December 23rd, but again Forbes was making no predictions.

"The fact that the new man can appoint his own selectors now may actually slow down the process a bit as well," he noted. "There's work there that the candidates will have to do, work that was previously done by the executive. That means contacting a whole lot of people before you get the three or four that you want, and who will go along with it. And this wouldn't be the best time of the year to be trying to contact people because there are other things on their minds."

The Dublin Ccounty Board, meanwhile, last night started the interviews for the position of their new senior hurling manager. Applications closed last Friday, and Chairman John Bailey said the county "wasn't hanging about on the matter" and was hopeful that the position may be filled by the end of the week.

Bailey has also stated his thanks to all the Dublin supporters who attended championship games at every level over the past year. The board has calculated an overall attendance figure of 430,000 from the county, and that sort of support, said Bailey, deserved a word of gratitude.