Potential New Armagh Managers (with a bit of luck we'll need one)

[Armagh Exile]

work has stopped on the athletic grounds because the company in charge of the work has gone bankrupt!!! typical county board would rather pay someone less money and get the job done half right,the trouble is that the money was paid out in full and now the work has stopped...makes me laugh just like grimley not getting the job...does anybody believe that grimley wouldnt have left his job in cavan if he hadnt of got assurances from somewhere within the county board regarding the armagh post

Surely this cannot be true as the chairman and secretaries of the clubs in Armagh would have been informed at the meeting on Wednesday night.

What proof have you that the work has stopped as the company has gone bankrupt?

This is news to all Armagh clubs.

[umgolaarmagh]

The Athletic grounds delay doesnt surpise me, i would love to know who was involve in the tendering process!!!

Anybody got the Mcgeeney interview on the Irishnews

Dont know McDonnell so cant rate him and as for Grimley well he is the best manager i have had by a long shot

[goldenyears]

McGeeney welcomes McDonnell 
Gaelic Games 
By Cóilín Duffy 

Armagh veteran Kieran McGeeney has welcomed the appointment of former Mullaghbawn manager Peter McDonnell as the new Orchard county boss, but has expressed reservations that former Cavan trainer Paul Grimley will not be a part of the Armagh set-up.

"Peter is an excellent manager. I had Peter with Mullaghbawn and he is also a close friend so I'm going to be fairly biased," McGeeney said.

"He is a first rate manager and an excellent coach, he used to coach me for athletics for the 100m sprint and stuff like that. He was a European champion himself at junior level. He is a fantastic athlete and a great man and I wish him all the best."

However, McGeeney couldn't hide his disappointment that Paul Grimley will not be involved. Grimley was Joe Kernan's right-hand man when the now Na Fianna player lifted Sam Maguire in 2002.

"I would have to say that I am very disappointed with the way the Armagh County Board treated Paul Grimley," McGeeney stated.


Paul and Brian McAlinden are two men that I would have come across who have impeccable integrity. Paul Grimley is an Armagh man to the backbone, like Brian, but these things happen and that is the way life goes."

However, the 34-year-old knows McDonnell from his Mullaghbawn days, when he guided them to the Armagh SFC in 1995, and has the height of respect for him.

"Peter knows his stuff and I suppose Mullaghbawn was very lucky at that particular time with a very, very strong defence. We had the two McNultys, myself and Neil Smyth, so out of your first seven, six of them basically were on the county squad.

"We were always able to deal with Crossmaglen's forward power but we probably wouldn't have had the same power upfront ourselves. Peter was able to mould us into a team. When I first started playing for Mullaghbawn in 1986, we were in Division Four but we came up to win it so it was a good achievement."

McGeeney denied that the appointment of Grimley would have guaranteed him a place in the squad as an 'elder statesman' and he sees the future as a bright one for Armagh football regardless of his own future.

"Paul is not stupid either and everybody has a shelf life about the amount of time you can play for.

"We have younger players coming through also that are fantastic players, the likes of Kieran McKeever and Brian Mallon and Kieran Toner and all of those younger boys. They are going to have to be moulded into a Championship winning team, but that can be done in a year.

"It depends on the willingness of the players and I think that bunch of lads have a great willingness. There are some fantastic players coming through and I think it shouldn't be too long and hopefully in the near future they do well."

[goldenyears]

Everyone equal under new Orchard manager 
Gaelic Games 
By Eamonn O'Hara 

PETER McDonnell makes no difference between the All-Ireland medallist, the Allstar, the experienced campaigner and those club players showing impressive form eager for a chance to show what they have to offer.

Armagh's new senior football team manager will make one invitation to all sometime in the next month.

It will be up to each player to make up his mind up on whether he wants to buy into the new blueprint after his appointment on Wednesday night as successor to All-Ireland title-winner and multiple Ulster Championship winner, Joe Kernan.

After refining a few details with his appointed backroom personnel, whose identities he will reveal shortly, a squad will be brought together for pre-season. Previous achievements or household standing are no guarantees for inclusion.

It will be performance-related, current form, and no player – big name or otherwise – can expect special treatment.

Will 'Geezer' decide to play on or, as speculation has hinted, look behind the scenes? What of McGrane, Oisin, Francie and one or two others?

The weeks since Armagh's exit from the All-Ireland SFC series and the decision by 'Big Joe' to retire after the most successful managerial reign in the county's history have been filled with questions about futures.

McDonnell made clear yesterday he will not try to persuade anyone to answer positively to the invitation when it is made. It will be solely the decision of each player asked to commit to the cause or not, as the case may be.

"The bottom line, whether they are young or old, is performance, not reputation or what people did in the past, and that criteria will be the same for all," he said.

"I will not be talking to any player individually. I will lay out my stall and if people find that attractive enough, well and good, and if they don't, well and good.

"But I won't be talking to anybody because every player to me is the same. I won't be talking to individuals. I would just as quick talk to the newest and youngest member of the panel as to the oldest and that is the way I am approaching this."

A 42-year-old school principal at St Mary's Primary in his home parish of Mullaghbawn, where he played his football, McDonnell started management at U21 level before guiding Mullaghbawn seniors to Ulster success in 1995.

He recently brought Armagh to the U21 All-Ireland semi-finals following club management spells at Burren and Armagh Harps. He also took Tyrone's Errigal Ciaran to an Ulster senior final seven years ago.

The county U21 squad and several in-form club

players are likely to receive invites when the time comes, with some players who may have thought their senior county chances were over also poised to be approached to see if they have ambitions to be part of the new deal.

"I am very familiar with the U21 players. I am very familiar with the club players, lads who are touching on county and maybe for one reason or another maybe fell out of favour," he said.

"But I have seen on a weekly basis who's doing what for which club and I have to say there's a few fellas out there who may get the opportunity to have their careers, or county careers, rekindled. I see them doing it week-in, week-out.

"I would be keen to see if they would be prepared to throw their hat in the ring to see how it goes. Maybe they are not interested. I don't know yet.

"But it is not just going to be taking lads up from U21. It is going to be looking at lads who are playing football here in this county and doing it well."

The last number of weeks have been intensive, with much media speculation over Armagh's vacancy. Throughout his management dealings, he maintains the measure of achievements he enjoyed, most recently with the county U21s, "always hinge on the quality of players that you have".

He said he was "very fortunate" to work with the players he has so far worked with, and is "thrilled" at securing the biggest job in Armagh football, which he considers a "natural progression".

"My ambition has always been to do the very best I can do and try to get the best out of people, and I suppose where I am at today is a result of all of those things," he said.

"I am absolutely honoured and delighted that I have this position. It means an awful lot to my extended family, uncles and aunts, who are all GAA people.

"It is a tremendous honour and a privilege. But, in terms of a long held ambition, I am where I am as just a natural progression and I am not fazed by it all."

It will be interesting to see the make up of the initial squad in five or six weeks' time. Once formulated, the pressure will be on from there to the height of next summer's Championship campaign.

[MULLABRACK1]

work has stopped on the athletic grounds because the company in charge of the work has gone bankrupt!!!

Surely this cannot be true as the chairman and secretaries of the clubs in Armagh would have been informed at the meeting on Wednesday night.

What proof have you that the work has stopped as the company has gone bankrupt?

This is news to all Armagh clubs.

i live beside the athletic grounds and know 1 of the men who was working on the grounds,it was him who told me the company had gone bankrupt,he hasnt been working all week...fact!!!

[laughinpaddy]

Dont know McDonnell so cant rate him and as for Grimley well he is the best manager i have had by a long shot

I have had the oppurtunity to have played under both Paul and Peter, and i can assure you that both men have a great track record in club management, yes the county boards treatment of big Paul was terrible but to suggest that the best man never got the job is nonsense!
Peter is a great manager, his man management skills are no different from Pauls he knows his stuff and the sooner that people start backing him the sooner Armagh will be back to winning ways 

[SouthArmaghBandit]

He's been shafted. No doubt about it.

[illdecide]

Heard over the weekend that he was bringing in Denis Hollywood and Martin McQuillan as his bakroom staff. Has anyone else heard anything??

[diesel-smuggler]

i'lldecide - heard that myself, im sure your fellow clubman paul kelly will have a few things to say about that as i heard that he is looking to move from minor to under21 management and denis hollywood has been part of kelly's backroom team along with brendan hughes

[illdecide]

i'lldecide - heard that myself, im sure your fellow clubman paul kelly will have a few things to say about that as i heard that he is looking to move from minor to under21 management and denis hollywood has been part of kelly's backroom team along with brendan hughes

I heard that yesterday myself. As long as he stays away from our senior team i don't really care what he does. But by hook or by crook he is determined to land the big one some day..

[pintsofguinness]

i'lldecide - heard that myself, im sure your fellow clubman paul kelly will have a few things to say about that as i heard that he is looking to move from minor to under21 management and denis hollywood has been part of kelly's backroom team along with brendan hughes

I heard that yesterday myself. As long as he stays away from our senior team i don't really care what he does. But by hook or by crook he is determined to land the big one some day..

They can hardly complain, there was back stabbing going on when they got the minor management too.

[diesel-smuggler]

paul kelly and his backroom team should have walked away allowing the development squad management team a crack at the minors after they had brought them thru from u15 level, kelly heard that they had been a good team and he decided to hold the limelight for himself!

one thing about him though he is very meticulous in his planning and he leaves no stone unturned, but he is still hard on the ears!

[illdecide]

Couldn't agree more

[armaghniac]

from de Indo

OISIN McCONVILLE has confirmed that he will remain on as an Armagh player for at least another year, WRITES COLM KEYS.

McConville pledged his commitment to new Armagh manager Peter McDonnell as his club, Crossmaglen Rangers, were honoured by AIB for their achievement in winning the last 12 Armagh titles.

[orangeman]

I saw Mc Conville play in the county final for Cross a few weeks ago and he was truly awesome  -