JOHN’S BACK AFTER AN OFFALY LONG TIME OUT

JOHN MAUGHAN will walk a sideline as an inter-county manager for the first time in more than 10 years this afternoon.

The Mayo man takes charge of Offaly against Westmeath in an O’byrne Cup tie in Moate.

In the opposite camp will be Paschal Kellaghan – long considered to be the frontrunner for the job in his native Offaly before Maughan (right) was parachuted in out of nowhere.

When Jack Cooney was appointed in Westmeath, Kellaghan was the first acquisition to his coaching team.

More important for either manager will be the League opener between the counties in Tullamore on January 27 but a win today would set them up for an extended run in this competition. Both camps are already weakened by the withdrawal of several key players for 2019, with Offaly’s latest defection being the retirement of long-serving goalkeeper Alan Mulhall this week.

Elsewhere, Kildare meet Carlow for the first time since their shock Leinster Championship defeat earlier this year while Meath play the first of two games in as many days, with the O’byrne Cup match with Longford in Ashbourne preceding tomorrow’s Sean Cox benefit game in Navan.

Both Wicklow and Louth are looking for their first win in Bray this afternoon having lost to Longford and Wexford respectively last weekend, while Laois face Wexford in Enniscorthy on the back of a heavy beating from Meath seven days ago.