The GAA bootroom: Managers who stepped out of the shadows, with varying levels of success
It’s an approach that counties often take on the back of a successful manager moving on, as Andy Moran ultimately was in Leitrim’s case, with continuity offering the best chance at maintaining progress.
With news that Mickey Graham is to become the next Leitrim manager emerging this week, he will join the likes of John Cleary (Cork), Vinny Corey (Monaghan) and Dessie Dolan (Westmeath) in stepping up from within a management team to take the main role.
It’s an approach that counties often take on the back of a successful manager moving on, as Andy Moran ultimately was in Leitrim’s case, with continuity offering the best chance at maintaining progress.
It doesn’t always work out like that, of course, but there have been some notable successes - and failures.
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Kieran McGeeney (Armagh)
In only one of the last 17 seasons has McGeeney not been manager of a senior inter-county team.
That was in 2014 when, fresh from being jettisoned by Kildare in a county board vote, then Armagh boss Paul Grimley immediately snapped him as a coach.
Armagh reached that year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, losing by a point to Donegal, after which Grimley stepped down, with McGeeney the natural successor.
He’s had his low moments, including having to take Armagh out of Division Three twice as well as a relegation from Division One last year and penalty shootout defeats in a pair of Ulster finals and two All-Ireland quarter-finals, but, generally, Armagh’s graph was trending upwards under his stewardship.
Still, he had to survive another county board vote last year to remain in situ and he went on to guide Armagh to an against-the-head All-Ireland title this year, his first major trophy as a manager.
Michael Ryan (Tipperary)
Tipperary took a most unusual approach in late 2014 when announcing that Ryan, then Eamon O’Shea’s assistant manager, would take over after the 2015 season.
Tipperary had just lost an All-Ireland hurling final to Kilkenny after a replay and would go on to suffer a narrow semi-final defeat to Galway the following year, which concluded O’Shea’s three years at the helm as Ryan stepped up.
He made a glorious start as Tipp swept to Munster and All-Ireland titles in 2016, romping home in the final against Kilkenny to deny their neighbours and fierce rivals a three-in-a-row.
It was all downhill for Ryan from there, however, as Tipp never fully recovered from a League final trimming from Galway in 2017 and when they failed to win a game in the new-look Munster round robin the following year, he departed.
Ger Loughnane (Clare)
Tipperary’s Len Gaynor enjoyed a fine stint as Clare senior hurling manager, leading them to landmark victories over Cork and Tipperary as they reached successive Munster finals in 1993 and ‘94.
Former wing-back Ger Loughnane was added to his management team for his last season in 1994, but on the proviso that he would then succeed Gaynor, who stepped down after a heavy defeat to Limerick in that year’s Munster final.
Loughnane turned Clare from nearly men into serial achievers as they stormed to a first Munster title since 1932 and then bridged an 81-year gap to their last All-Ireland in his first season in 1995.
They matched those feats in 1997 - beating a Gaynor-managed Tipperary in both the Munster and All-Ireland finals in dramatic fashion.
Loughnane inspired Clare to another Munster title in 1998 but they started to wane from there and he quit after a heavy defeat to Tipp saw them eliminated from the 2000 Championship at the Munster semi-final stage.
Clare had succession stakes in place once again as Cyril Lyons was added to Loughnane’s management team and went on to succeed him.
It didn’t work quite as well this time, however, though Lyons did lead Clare to the 2002 All-Ireland final, which was the highlight of his three-year term despite losing to Kilkenny.
Pat O’Neill (Dublin)
Hero of the ‘70s Paddy Cullen was tasked with bridging the gap to Dublin’s previous All-Ireland in 1983 when appointed after the 1990 Championship campaign, which concluded with a Leinster final defeat to Meath, with former Pat O’Neill and Jim Brogan his selectors.
Remarkably, Cullen’s first Championship campaign encompassed four games, none of which were won, as Meath edged them out after a famous four-game saga in the first round of the Leinster Championship.
He steered them all the way to an All-Ireland final the following year but quit following a surprise four-point loss to Donegal, with O’Neill stepping into the breach.
Under O’Neill, Dublin dominated Leinster but couldn’t crack Ulster opposition, losing to eventual winners Derry in the 1993 All-Ireland semi-final and to Down in the decider the following year.
They finally went one better in 1995, edging out Tyrone in a forgettable final, with O’Neill stepping down the following month after the opening League game against Leitrim at Croke Park.
It would be a further 16 years before Dublin won an All-Ireland.
Paul Caffrey (Dublin)
It was going to take something spectacular to revitalise Tommy Lyons’s reign as Dublin manager after Westmeath knocked them out of Leinster in 2004 and, though they reached the All-Ireland quarter-final via the qualifiers, the game was up after a heavy defeat to Kerry.
Legendary figure Brian Mullins, who guided Derry to an Ulster title in 1998, was courted but ultimately couldn’t find common ground with the county board, who then shone a light on Lyons’s outgoing management team.
Selector Paul Caffrey had enjoyed success with Na Fianna, leading them to the 2000 All-Ireland club final, and was eventually handed the reins.
Under ‘Pillar’, Dublin took control of the Leinster Championship and haven’t relinquished it since but they couldn’t crack the All-Ireland semi-final stage, losing narrowly to Mayo and Kerry respectively in 2006 and ‘07, with quarter-final defeats to Tyrone either side of those defeats.
Caffrey resigned in the immediate aftermath of the 14-point loss to Mickey Harte’s side in 2008, with Pat Gilroy taking over and ending the All-Ireland drought three years later.
John Allen (Cork)
A former Cork dual player, Allen first joined the senior hurling backroom team as a masseur under Jimmy Barry-Murphy ahead of the 1999 All-Ireland win and was brought on board as a selector by Donal O’Grady in late 2002 as he took over from Bertie Og Murphy.
O’Grady led Cork to the 2003 All-Ireland final, losing to Kilkenny, and opted to step down after reversing that result in the decider the following year.
With continuity sought in the wake of his surprise departure and Seanie O’Leary, another selector, distancing himself from the role, Allen became the obvious choice.
The transition was seamless as Cork regained the Munster title in 2005 and retained the All-Ireland, who remains the last manager to lead the county to the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
He quit after Kilkeny dashed their three-in-a-row dreams in the 2006 final and though he was linked with a return on occasions, he never reprised the role.
He did lead Limerick to a Munster title in 2013 at Cork’s expense, however.
Cork had previously tried promotion from within after Barry-Murphy’s departure in 2000 as his selector Tom Cashman took charge, only to quit on the back of a first round defeat to Limerick in 2001.
Brian Cuthbert (Cork)
Cuthbert had a hard act to follow as Cork senior football manager after Conor Counihan’s departure in 2013.
The Aghada man had turned Cork into one of the most formidable sides in the game on the back of an acrimonious players’ strike in 2008, winning three League and Munster titles as well as the 2010 All-Ireland.
Cuthbert wasn’t involved in the 2010 breakthrough - he was managing the county minors at the time - but he was subsequently recruited by Counihan and succeeded him in October 2013 on a two-year term.
He couldn’t arrest the deterioration that had set in towards the end of Counihan’s term, however, and endured a difficult two years as Kerry held them at arm’s reach in Munster and their progress was minimal in the All-Ireland series.
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