Laois GAA must begin the search for a new senior football manager with the confirmation that Billy Sheehan won’t be in charge again in 2024.
It’s understood that Sheehan met with county board officials in recent days.
Sheehan was appointed to the role at the end of 2021 on a two-year term with a possibility of a third season, pending a review.
However, as had been widely expected since the Tailteann Cup semi-final loss to Down, he is not going forward for a third campaign.
“Outgoing Laois senior football manager Billy Sheehan has informed Laois GAA officials following his review meeting that he is stepping down from this position,” said a brief statement from Laois GAA issued today.
“Laois GAA would like to thank Billy and his backroom team for their commitment and work with this panel for the past two years and wish them well for the future.
“Laois GAA will now establish an appointments committee to source a new football manager for the coming season.”
Though Laois belatedly put a run of results together to reach the last four of the Tailteann Cup, his tenure will be ultimately deemed a disappointing one which culminated in the humbling 22-point loss to Down in Croke Park.
His first season was hampered by the unavailability of a number of key county-standard players and the Division 3 National League campaign ended with relegation to Division 4.
There was then a chaotic 5-15 to 4-12 loss to Wicklow in the Leinster championship. Laois recovered relatively well to be far more competitive with Westmeath in the Tailteann Cup but it was the first post-Covid season and in a straight knockout competition, Laois’s season was over.
Boosted by the addition of a handful of new players, 2022 got off to a relatively positive start as Laois won the first three games in Division 4.
But a home loss to Wicklow was hugely damaging and Laois later lost to Leitrim and lost out on promotion.
A win over Wexford in the Leinster championship set up an historic home clash with Dublin, but Dessie Farrell’s side showed no mercy in a 4-30 to 2-9 win.
The Tailteann Cup offered a chance to pick things up again which, for the most part, notwithstanding a draw with London which just about kept Laois in the competition.
A draw with Offaly and wins over Fermanagh and Limerick suggested that Laois had turned a corner.
But the semi-final capitulation to Down brought the curtain down on both the 2023 season and Sheehan’s time as manager.
A large turnover of players from one season to the next was a mitigating factor, highlighted particularly by the fact that four different players played in goals across the two seasons, all of them handed their championship debut by Sheehan.
And whether connected or not, the concession of a large number of goals was a constant theme – from the six conceded in the first O’Byrne Cup game against Wexford in January 2022, to the eight coughed up in Croke Park against Down.
To the end Sheehan remained hugely popular with the players and the last couple of weeks saw him speak out repeatedly against abuse aimed at the team.
Across his time in charge he gave championship debuts to Danny Bolger (Graiguecullen), Matthew Byron (Courtwood), Alex Mohan (Portarlington), Dylan Kavanagh (The Heath), Cathal Doyle (Ballyroan-Abbey), Sean Greene (Emo), Conor Heffernan (Killeshin), Kevin Swayne (Portlaoise), Scott Osborne (Portarlington), Killian Roche (Killeshin), Padraig Kirwan (Emo) and Damon Larkin (Portlaoise).
Laois GAA will now begin the process of appointing a new manager for the 2024 season.
They are also in the hunt for new U-20 and minor management teams after it was confirmed last week that Sean O’Shea and Tom Byrne (U-20s) and Conor Gorman (minors) won’t be in charge again.
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