By Liam Maguire
ANTRIM began their hunt for a new senior football manager yesterday with the announcement that Enda McGinley was stepping down after two years in the role.
On Saturday, the Saffrons suffered a Tailteann Cup round one exit at the hands of Leitrim and that, coupled with a tame Ulster Championship performance against Cavan, proved enough to convince both McGinley and the county board that a change of direction was needed.
The former Tyrone All-Ireland winner guided Antrim to promotion from Division Four in 2021 and they performed creditably in this year’s National League, remaining in contention for promotion from Division Three until the last round of games. However, a pair of first round defeats to counties who had played their football in the basement division in the spring signalled a deflating early end to their Championship summer. McGinley's backroom staff will also depart.
“The Antrim county board can announce that Enda McGinley has stepped down as manager of our senior football team,” read the statement released yesterday.
“During Enda’s tenure, our senior footballers have both gained promotion to Division Three and retained their Division Three status for 2023. We would like to sincerely thank Enda, Stephen O’Neill, Sean Kelly, Stephen Quinn and all the backroom team for their efforts and we wish them all the best of luck for the future. Míle buíochas a Éanna agus a foireann, ádh mór oraibh.”
Meanwhile, although Down suffered their own early Tailteann Cup exit at the hands of Cavan on Saturday, chairman Jack Devaney yesterday denied rumours that James McCartan was stepping down.
McCartan’s men suffered a dispiriting 0-24 to 1-12 defeat to Cavan at Breffni Park, which came hot on the heels of an Ulster dismissal by Monaghan, but Devaney insisted the manager’s future was never going to be determined by Saturday’s result.
“There’s been no discussion by the county board on the matter with our senior team management and there certainly was never going to be any discussion on the future for the backroom team in the immediate aftermath of the Cavan game – win, lose or draw,” the Mourne chairman said.
“Regarding next year and planning the way ahead, my personal preference would be for James to stay on. Either way, we were never going to hold discussions immediately after the Cavan game.
“The current management team was only appointed last December and we knew there would be a body of work in front of James and his selectors to develop a team and a squad of players capable of improving and achieving things.”
