Fermanagh management crisisSeán Moran talks to former football manager Dominic Corrigan about walking away after a historic year

Fermanagh's county executive was meeting late last night to consider the sudden resignation of football manager Dominic Corrigan last week. An official statement was released just after 10 o'clock but the meeting continued afterwards.

The statement accepted "with regret" the resignation, thanked Corrigan for "his services over the past few years" and wished him "success in the future". It continued: "The committee has initiated procedures for the appointment of a new manager and hope the post will be filled in the near future."

Corrigan, who led the county to its best season this year, took the action in protest at proposed cuts in his team budget.

"There were a few things I had great difficulty with, concerning players' expenses and meal allowances. Instead of cutting back we should be putting more into the team. I get on well with the men on the executive and we have the same vision for Fermanagh football. The difference is how we think that should be realised.

"I felt I didn't have the full backing of everyone within the executive. When obstacles are put in your path it's hard to make progress. It wasn't going to happen without the resources needed and there were budgetary cuts across the board.

"I saw in the paper where Páidí Ó Sé was taking Westmeath footballers to Sunderland en masse for training. That's the sort of stuff you have to do. Páidí's not looking over his shoulder in Westmeath wondering where the money is coming from."

County board sources disputed the impact of any financial cuts. "We're allocating £140,000 (€200,000) for the coming year," said county secretary Eugene Houston. "The books are with the accountants so we're not even certain what was spent last year."

With one of the GAA's smallest populations, Fermanagh find it hard to raise the money needed to prepare a county team. According to Corrigan his job has had to involve supplementary fundraising and he baulked at having to take on the same work again.

"I felt I would have been in a running battle trying to raise funds and get sponsorship to cover training costs and aspects of team preparation. We got tremendous support from the Fermanagh associations in Belfast and Dublin but they're not a bottomless pit.

"We have to do it all again because we're a small county and don't have the same back-up as the likes of Armagh and Tyrone. I couldn't go on in a situation where resources were being cut back. I telephoned my resignation on Wednesday and handed in my resignation letter on Thursday."

Corrigan's resignation is a blow for Fermanagh at the end of a memorable year. The county reached the NFL semi-finals for the first time in nearly 70 years and for the first time reached the last eight of the All-Ireland championship.

These achievements were slightly overshadowed by heavy defeats to Tyrone at Croke Park, where both campaigns ended. Corrigan himself is even more disappointed with the failure to reach the Ulster final after a subdued effort against Down in the semi-final.

"Not winning an Ulster title is my big regret," he says. "It's what I set out to do. I think we were unlucky to face Tyrone when we did. We were hoping for a team from one of the other provinces. I was reading in Peter Canavan's book that they were aware of the warning signs from losing to Sligo last year."

He insists he'll not be reconsidering. "There'll be no going back. I've had approaches from executive members and players but it wasn't a decision I took lightly. I thought long and hard about it."

Yet he doesn't rule out returning at some stage. "I'm only a young kid on the block and hope to be back in the future - on my own terms." He also denied that the departure of highly regarded fitness trainer Martin McElkennon to join new Cavan manager Eamon Coleman had influenced his decision.

"No, I had an excellent replacement, Paul Murphy, who's worked with Antrim and Dunloy hurlers. He's a strength and conditioning coach and had drawn up programmes for the players and they were impressed with him.

"Martin announced he was going in August and it wasn't a major surprise given his long-standing relationship with Eamon Coleman (appointed Cavan manager last summer). I agreed to go ahead in October and was delighted to commit myself to it for a final year. I was already organising challenge matches and fresh faces to see how they fared out."

It's a sad ending to a bittersweet year for Corrigan, whose brother Desmond passed away after a short illness just hours after Fermanagh enjoyed the high point of their year by defeating Meath in Clones.

Looking back, Corrigan says the good days outnumbered the bad. "I had two years as a manager and one as a selector under John Maughan and over that time we had some great days in the championship although I was disappointed that we didn't do better against Down in Ulster. There were low days like losing to Kerry in Portlaoise last year but for every dark day there were four or five bright ones."

Corrigan won't be sitting back; he cut his teeth as a coach at St Michael's College in Enniskillen and looks forward to renewing that involvement. "I'll be involved in St Michael's and will be giving a full commitment to the school. I'm going back to the conveyor belt - I'll be working on the production line."