Declan Kelly appointed new Offaly senior football manager

DECLAN Kelly has been appointed as the new Offaly senior football manager. The appointment of the Kilclonfert man was formally approved at a meeting of the Offaly GAA Management Committee on Thursday evening.

Kelly's appointment will be warmly welcomed by Offaly GAA supporters and it was widely anticipated. He became a likely Offaly senior football manager after leading the county to a sensational win in the All-Ireland U-20 Football Championship in 2021.

His full management team has not been announced yet but will include Shannonbridge native Vinny Mooney as a coach and Mullingar man, Ciaran Kilmurray as a selector.

Kelly was the standout candidate from the minute Offaly's campaign in the Tailteann Cup ended some months ago and he became red hot favourite once the interim manager, Martin Murphy (Gracefield) announced that he would not be seeking the job some weeks ago.

Murphy had taken over as manager following the sudden death of Kerry man, Liam Kearns during the National Football League. Murphy and Tullamore's John Rouse had been selectors with Kearns and the trio had done very well during their short spell in charge.

Under Murphy's guidance, Offaly had a good campaign in the Leinster Senior Football Championship, beating Longford and Meath and bringing Louth to extra time in the semi-final. In the Tailteann Cup, however, Offaly never got going with many players displaying little appetite for the second tier competition. They scraped out of the group and were then beaten by Wexford in the knockout stages.

Murphy's decision not to seek a full year had been expected after the Tailteann Cup campaign. Kelly had been a favourite after John Maughan opted out after the 2022 season but didn't go forward at that stage.

The timing of his appointment is important as many of the U-20 All-Ireland champions have reached the stage where they need to start making their mark at senior intercounty level, and the new manager has a special bond with them,

Edenderry's Lee Pearson and Rory Egan established themselves in defence last year while Jack Bryant came on as a sub in some games and others featured on the panel. Some of that team have had very severe injuries but most have been on the road to recovery and getting outstanding talents such as John Furlong, Cormac Egan, Keith O'Neill and Cathal Flynn (who didn't accept an invitation to come in for 2023) going will be a priority for the new manager. Getting the best out of players such as Jack Bryant, Morgan Tynan and others will also be a focus as the manager bleds in new and establishing players – deciding which long serving players to move on and retain will be a big judgement call for the new manager.

Vinny Mooney's appointment as coach will also be welcomed as he has earned an excellent reputation for his work with Kilmacud Crokes senior footballers in recent years. He was an excellent footballer himself in the 1990s, a deadly corner forward who could have played more for the county than he did. He won a Senior Football Championship medal with Shannonbridge in 1996.

Ciaran Kilmurray has worked with Kelly in St Loman's, who the new manager has let to Westmeath senior football titles.

Kelly's appointment represents a great rise to success. He came up through the club scene in Offaly, winning titles with St Brigid's and Cappincur, while he did a handful of years as Offaly U-20 football manager. He has also done a lot of work with the Offaly development squad system in recent years, overseeing the running of them and taking a hands on roll with some teams.

He had worked with St Rynagh's Ger Rafferty, Bracknagh's David Connolly and Ballycumber's Ciaran Grennan with the Offaly U-20 footballers. Rafferty is unable to commit to Offaly seniors at this stage and it remains to be seen if any of the other two join him later as he adds to his management package in the coming weeks.