Laois GAA have put in place a four-man sub-committee to select a new senior football manager.
The committee will consist of Greg Ramsbottom, Kieran Kehoe, Joe Cunningham and Tom Byrne who all bring a variety of experience and expertise from both their GAA and professional backgrounds.
Ramsbottom is a former Laois player and the current Stradbally manager while Kehoe, who played with O’Dempsey’s and served in a number of roles with the club, was previously a Director of Services in Laois County Council and is now in one of the top positions in Waterford City and County Council.
Joe Cunningham, who is the current CEO of Laois-Offaly Education and Training Board, is from Caherlistrane in Galway and is currently heavily involved with the Park-Ratheniska club.
Tom Byrne, meanwhile, is a Dublin native who is a highly-regarded coach.
A club man of Good Counsel in Dublin, he has been with the Laois U-20s for the past number of seasons, working alongside both Eddie Kinsella and Billy O’Loughlin.
The Laois manager’s job has been vacant since Mike Quirke stood down on July 5 following the heavy loss to Westmeath in the Leinster championship.
In the weeks since a review of Laois’s recent inter-county football seasons has been carried out.
That review was chaired by Laois GAA executive member Ger Slevin and also included former players Fergal Byron, Chris Conway, Mick Dempsey and Niall Collins.
That group met with a number of the recent Laois senior and underage managers including Mike Quirke, his predecessor John Sugrue, recent U-20 managers Billy O’Loughlin and Eddie Kinsella and some of the backroom personnel.
The current committee, put in place by chairman Peter O’Neill, will now go about sourcing a manager for the Laois footballers for the 2022 season.
It is expected that they will recommend a name to the Laois GAA executive which would then be put to a full County Board meeting to be ratified.
While it’s an unlikely an appointment will be made for the next County Board meeting, which takes place next Monday, September 13, it is hoped that the new manager will be in place for a lot of the remaining club championship games.
Round 2 of the senior and intermediate grades take place from September 16-19 but Round 3 isn’t until the first weekend in October.
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