Irish Daily Mirror

WALLACE A GONER AS OFFALY ACT

- BY PAT NOLAN

STEPHEN WALLACE was last night removed as Offaly senior football manager by the county board executive.

The decision follows the fallout surroundin­g

Sunday’s Leinster Championsh­ip defeat to Wicklow, which Wallace (above) watched from the stands having been hit with an eight-week ban after an incident in a club game in his native Kerry.

A statement from the Offaly county board read: “Following a meeting of Coiste Bainisti Uibh Fhaili, the decision was made that Stephen Wallace should not continue as manager of the Offaly senior football team.

“An interim management team will be appointed as soon as possible.”

Wallace’s backroom team, which includes fellow Kerry men Billy Sheehan and Brendan Kealy along with Ferbane’s Paul Mollen, have also been given their marching orders.

A number of players agreed on and forwarded a letter to the Offaly executive ahead of its meeting, which resulted in Wallace’s

departure, outlining how they were prepared to continue to play under him.

The letter read: “In the wake of the defeat to Wicklow and in light of the recent media report, we, the Offaly senior football panel wish to confirm that we returned to training tonight in preparatio­n for our round one qualifier on June 9.

“We are very disappoint­ed with our performanc­e against Wicklow but are ready to knuckle down over the next four weeks.

“We look forward to this challenge and improving on our performanc­e. We are very committed to playing for Offaly under the current management and we would also like to confirm that no player has engaged with local or national reporters since Sunday’s game.”

Wallace’s position became increasing­ly untenable in the wake of Sunday’s loss as details emerged of a row at half-time largely involving Nigel Dunne (inset), who was replaced minutes earlier and was subsequent­ly reintroduc­ed in the second half only to miss a penalty.

Wallace was severely undermined when tweets from former players that were critical of him were ‘liked’ by players who played on Sunday.

Former Offaly footballer Tom Coffey has filled the role on an interim basis twice in the past and could do it again.

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