FITZGERALD LINED UP TO BE NEXT KERRY SENIOR FOOTBALL MANAGER

Buckley and Stack being lined up for the management team

MAURICE Fitzgerald appears set to take over as manager of the Kerry senior football team with Donie Buckley and Stephen Stack to be part of the new management team.

With less than two weeks to go to the selection committee’s October 8 deadline to present a management team to the County Committee delegates for ratification, The Kerryman understands that the position is Fitzgerald’s to refuse, and that the

St Mary’s club man will likely agree to succeed Éamonn Fitzmaurice as team manager.

The four-man selection committee is understood to have met last night (Tuesday) to finalise the appointment, and the only stumbling block could be Fitzgerald’s recent appointment as principal of Colaiste na Sceilge and the extra workload that will come with that new job.

Fitzgerald has been a senior selector for the last two years and The Kerryman understands that there was a desire by the selection committee to maintain a link between the previous management team and the new one.

It’s also understood that there is a strong preference to have respected coach Donie Buckley (top) come on board and that Fitzgerald is more than willing to work with the Castleisland native, who spent the last six seasons as coach to the Mayo football team. Buckley has previously been involved with the Limerick and Clare senior footballers, has worked with Jack O’Connor and the Kerry footballers in 2012, and is regarded as one of the game’s top coaches. Several Mayo players have spoken highly of Buckley who can take the lead in one-on-one coaching and video analysis, and who is credited with improving Mayo’s defence and their tackling.

It seems that Fitzgerald’s former Kerry team mate Stephen Stack (bottom) will come on board the management ticket, having previously managed his own club, Listowel Emmets, Bray Emmets, and most recently Austin Stacks, which he managed to a county championship title in 2014.

It’s likely that Fitzgerald will bring in another person as a selector, with names such as Diarmuid Murphy, Seamus Moynihan, Declan O’Sullivan and Tommy Griffin being mentioned. The Kerryman also understands that minor team manager Peter Keane was interviewed about the position, but that he may have been less willing to met some of the criteria laid down by the selection committee, headed by county committee chairman Tim Murphy.

It’s understood that the county committee is eager to keep in place some of the back-room people from the previous management’s time in charge, including medial staff and nutritionist experts. However, it seems likely that Joe O’Connor will not be continuing in his role as Head of Athletic Development, which involved working with senior footballers and all inter-county sides down to the underage development squads.