ANTRIM camogie are searching for a new county senior team manager.
This week they posted on their social media channels an invitation for expressions of interest for all the county management positions, including senior, with the closing date Friday, August 23.
It follows a request from senior players’ representatives to the last county board meeting at the start of July to have management in place as early as possible.
Last year’s change of management wasn’t announced until the end of November. There wasn’t an opportunity to see players during the club championships nor to set in place a proper pre-season programme.
The lateness of the appointment last November wasn’t the only issue that contributed to a poor 2024 for Antrim at inter-county level.
The management team in place for the previous few years had brought incremental progress at senior level with almost all the top club players buying into the county team.
That management had indicated their wish to remain in situ for 2024. There had also been significant progress with the development of a reserve team that had won the 2022 All-Ireland junior title and then collected the Ulster intermediate crown.
However, the appointment of a new management team at senior level at the county convention in late November didn’t work out and, just a few days before the start of the Very National League programme in February, they stepped down. The struggle to field a reserve team this season was merely collateral damage.
Two parents of players, Carl McCormick and Martin Coulter, stepped in to pull together a senior team and guide them to victory over Down in the opening game. Although they suffered a 12-20 to 0-4 hammering by Wexford in the next match, the team recovered to beat both Kerry and Limerick at home to secure their Division One status.
At a meeting in March, the board then ratified McCormick and Coulter as management for the rest of the season but, despite regaining the Ulster senior title with many young and inexperienced players, the Saffrons were relegated from the O’Duffy Cup without winning any of their five group games.
It is unclear at this point if McCormick and Coulter would be interested in becoming a more permanent fixture with the opportunity to build a stronger panel pre-season.
If the county gets itself back to the situation where all the top club players make themselves available for selection and there is a good pre-season programme for them, 2025 could turn out well; certainly Antrim should be able to retain Division 1B status and an All-Ireland Intermediate final in Croke Park is a realistic target.
Could the experienced management team headed by Elaine Dowds be persuaded to make a comeback? Dowds spent the league campaign this year as an adviser to the Dublin team that subsequently won Division 1B and later reached the All-Ireland semi-final. She is currently in charge of the Slaughtneil team bidding for a 10th successive Derry title.
After three seasons in charge of the minors, John McArthur may well throw his hat in the ring, while Benny Dillon who took Loughgiel to an All-Ireland club final two years ago is another possibility.
A bigger challenge might come from re-building a reserve team to give younger players coming out of under-age teams the opportunity to gain experience before stepping into senior ranks. There didn’t appear much enthusiasm from the targeted group to get involved this year.
Meanwhile, there is little clarification around the other two inter-county management teams in Ulster that featured at senior level in 2024.
In Down, Paul Donnelly has completed his scheduled three years in charge. The county board have yet to comment on plans for the season ahead.
Similarly in Derry, PJ O’Mullan had been clear when he took over at the start of 2023 that he would be there for two years. Those two seasons are now up.
The Loughgiel man, however, may well be tempted to stay another term given Derry’s season finished on a high and there is still unfinished business in the league and in the Ulster senior championship.
