Roscommon hurling needs fresh start after awkward parting of ways

< PAUL HEALY

Shortly after the final whistle in Roscommon’s lacklustre defeat to Louth on Sunday, the indications were that disquiet in local hurling circles was about to reach a decisive tipping point.

The rumour mill had one clear message: manager Francis O’Halloran was likely to step down within hours.

Given those swirling rumours, when the Clare native confirmed his resignation early on Monday, there was no great surprise at the actual announcement.

However, what did take many people by surprise was the relatively unusual decision of a departing manager to publicly criticise players on the way out.

Clearly Francis O’Halloran feels hurt, and let down, to such a point that he felt justified in going public on what he considers to be a lack of commitment by players.

It’s a sad end to a short-lived O’Halloran reign. The manager was appointed in October 2021. Only a few weeks ago, the high profile addition of Kilkenny great Richie Power to the management set-up was announced. Now the entire management team has stepped down, en bloc. Roscommon reached the Nicky Rackard Cup final last year, but an unimpressive start to this season’s Division 3A League campaign has highlighted the existence of tensions in the Roscommon camp.

It’s known that the outgoing management was frustrated by the unavailability of a number of key players (for various reasons) this season.

In his resignation statement, O’Halloran bluntly took aim at players: “Upon our appointment in late 2021, we committed to improving and developing the standard of hurling in Roscommon. We feel that significant progress was made in 2022 culminating with an appearance in the Nicky Rackard final in Croke Park.

“However, the commitment and efforts shown by the management team have not been matched in recent times by the playing members of the panel despite our best efforts. Therefore, we have taken the decision to step away from the Roscommon senior hurling team with immediate effect,” the statement read.

That’s a pretty unusual public parting