Magee stays at the helm

JOHNNY Magee has been re-appointed for a third season as Wicklow manager following a special county board meeting held on Monday night.

Thirty three delegates voted in favour of Johnny Magee while eighteen opposed his tenure as Wicklow manager.

The meeting had been convened because clubs felt they didn’t have sufficient time to consult with their members before the county board meeting last Monday night.

Chairman of the county board Martin Coleman outlined how he and members of the county board met with Johnny Magee and discussed the plan and structure for the year ahead. These include getting out of Division 4 and building a panel of players for the future as the average age is quite young.

There were a huge number of issues raised by delegates such as the release of county players for club matches and how there should be a structure in place to accommodate this.

Brendan Brady from Avondale questioned why the Wicklow team has such a large backroom team but Martin Coleman replied that the Wicklow backroom team is relatively quite small and all members of it are necessary.

Bobby Dignam of Rathnew argued that some players in the county don’t want to play for Johnny Magee while Michael Sargent of Blessington similarly thought Wicklow doesn’t have the best players available on the pitch. However John Timmons of Kiltegan and Gerry Walsh of Éire Óg reiterated their point from last week that their county players support Magee as manager.

After thirty minutes of discussion a vote was taken and Johnny Magee will remain Wicklow senior football manager.