Flannery moving to pastures new

OULART-THE BALLAGH Senior hurling manager Frank Flannery has stepped aside with immediate effect. Flannery has informed the club of his decision not to remain at the helm for 2017 after five hugely successful years in charge.

It’s well known that Flannery found the ten-hour door-to-door commute from his Kanturk base to the small rural village of Oulart quite demanding both physically and mentally, which no doubt was a major contributory factor in arriving at this decision.

The Cork native led Oulart-The Ballagh to the promised land as they finally shed the unfair tag of ‘bottlers’ to claim the Leinster Club Senior hurling championship title for the very first time.

While being self-employed as a construction project engineer helps, juggling his coaching along with the lengthy hours on the road eventually caught up with the successful coach.

After losing last year’s All-Ireland Club semi-final to Na Piarsaigh of Limerick after extra-time, Flannery always felt that he would give it another year, no doubt in the hope that they could go that step further and claim a national title.

While he steered Oulart-The Ballagh to back-to-back Senior hurling titles, the commitment of the present day managerial role, along with the huge workload, was always going to be a factor in his arrival at a decision for 2017.

Oulart-The Ballagh, having defeated Cloughbawn in the county final, beat St. Rynagh’s in the provincial quarter-final, but the manner in which Kilkenny champions O’Loughlin Gaels, who ultimately lost the provincial final heavily to Cuala, dismantled their challenge must have been disappointing to the Corkman.

No doubt it was disappointing for Flannery to have to bow out on such a note, but he can still step away happy in the knowledge of what he brought to this Oulart-The Ballagh side, whose hurling skills improved immeasurably under his management.

Now the club must begin the process of finding a new manager which will not be easy, as whoever comes in has big shoes to fill just to match the achievements of Flannery.