MOONEY OPTS FOR SURGERY
O’Rourke to cast net far and wide
DOWN star Caolan Mooney underwent surgery yesterday to repair a ruptured cruciate knee ligament.
The former Collingwood AFL man had put the surgery off after a scan back in May revealed the full extent of the damage.
Downpatrick player Mooney recently stated that he was unlikely to play for Down again.
Mooney (29) is likely to be sidelined until next summer, effectively ruling him out of Down’s 2023 campaign anyway.
Road
The loss of Mooney is a blow to new boss Conor Laverty, who recently replaced James McCartan.
Mooney tweeted:
“ACL reconstruction. Now the road to get back on the pitch starts now. Looking forward to the bumpy road it’s going to lead me on #june2023.”
Meanwhile, Kieran McGeeney has been appointed for a ninth season by Armagh.
Legendary All-Ireland winning skipper, McGeeney, who took charge in 2015, guided the county to this year’s quarter-finals.
NEW Meath boss Colm O’Rourke has unveiled his plans for the 2023 season.
O’Rourke, who revealed that he didn’t even tell his family he was taking the Royals job until it was agreed with the Meath GAA Committee, will hold a series of regional trials in October and November.
The former Ireland International Rules chief intends to run the rule over “the guts of 300 players.”
“It will hopefully run at night in Dunganny through the month of October and early November,”said O’Rourke.
“Anybody who wants to play with Meath will get an opportunity to do so, and anybody who wants to opt out of that, well that’s fine. We can take it that they don’t want to play with Meath.
“This will give us an opportunity to look at players in a competitive setting, not just for one day where they may be judged, but over a period of time with a minimum of three games.
“It would give an opportunity for us to look at maybe the guts of 300 players over a four to six week period and everybody would get a great opportunity to try out for the county.
“I am very conscious that a lot of clubs say some of their best players are never seen.
“I don’t think that is probably valid because I am quite sure that most of them have been given trials, but it’s an accusation that’s often made and it’s something we are certainly going to ensure that’s not the truth this year anyway.”
O’Rourke has yet to finalise his full backroom team, which currently features selectors 1996 All-Ireland winner Barry Callaghan and Meath’s last All Star, Stephen Bray, with Sean Boylan on board in an advisory capacity.
Excellent
“I am fortunate to have two excellent people with me in Barry Callaghan and Stephen Bray,” he said. “Both of them have been immersed in Meath football for a long time.
“I hope it’s a good balance in age and that they can identify with different groups. Barry is very much involved with the Meath underage structures and has been manager of the Meath Under-20s and part of the Meath football committee. “They are not people who are big friends of mine. I didn’t go that route, because I wanted to have people with me who would challenge me in every way. I think that will happen with them.”
Speaking about Bray, O’Rourke said he was a player the younger generation could identify with and “probably the best Meath forward of the last 20 years.”
On the playing front, it is unclear if the O’Byrne Cup will take place, with Simonstown clubman O’Rourke pencilling in a six-week lead in to the start of the League in January.
The new Meath boss says it would be“a bit of a disaster”if Meath were relegated from Division Two and didn’t feature in the All-Ireland race.
“There are very great incentives to make sure you retain your position, at least, in the second division, if not to be promoted,” said O’Rourke.
“Because that is going to give your position in the following Championship structure.
“We don’t want a situation obviously where we are not in the latter stages of the Championship groups.”
Success
O’Rourke says that if his side display similar attributes to the back-to-back Meath AllIreland ladies champions then it will bring success to the men’s side.
“I’d like to congratulate Meath ladies on an incredible exhibition of football, passion, commitment, calmness and every other good quality you would want to see in a team,” he said.
“And if we are able to do the same with the men then we’ll go a long way to bringing back (left, inset)
Meath to the top of the tree.”
Speaking about the manner of his appointment, O’Rourke said he felt the Meath GAA Management Committee had to be the first to know.
“It is up to them to support or reject it,” he stated. “I wanted that courtesy carried out to them and as the Chairman would attest, it was done so.
“I don’t think it’d be right that a major appointment would be leaked to anybody until such time as the County Board would know about it first. That, to me, was an important consideration and I’m glad it worked out very well. It meant I didn’t tell my own family and a lot of other people who were completely taken by surprise. That was my reasoning behind it.”