New coach to be appointed as Kilcormac-Killoughey hope to finalise Laffan management team in coming weeks

KILCORMAC-Killoughey GAA Club will be trying to secure a new coach to work with their new senior hurling manager Declan Laffan in the coming days.

Tipperary man Laffan was unveiled as their manager on Sunday evening. Players were first told of the appointment at a meeting with officers on Sunday evening and the wider public was informed in a club social media post on Sunday evening, though news of the impending announcement had seeped out earlier that afternoon.

Laffan's appointment comes after the ruthless dismissal of local man, Shane Hand before Christmas. Hand had led Kilcormac-Killoughey to back to back championships during his three year spell while they reached the Leinster club final in December, losing out to Na Fianna of Dublin. While K-K fell away late on and could not cope with the power and pace of the winners, they were in the game for a long time and their defeat was put into perspective by Na Fianna's very impressive destruction of Cork's Sarsfields in Sunday's All-Ireland final.

The manner of Hand's dismissal proved to be a big talking point far outside of Offaly's borders and it led to considerable disquiet and comment within their club. The appointment of Laffan draws a line under it and he comes into the job with very impressive credentials. He managed his own club Loughmore Castleiney's senior hurlers and footballers for almost a decade, leading them to a famous championship double in 2013. He led Clough Ballacolla to three Laois senior hurling titles in a row from 2020 to 2022 and has been a Tipperary senior hurling selector since then.

Shane Hand was appointed as the Tullamore senior hurling manager last week and Laffan's appointment will allow club officers to put the affair to bed and the controversy will now ebb away.

The book will finally be closed when Laffan's full management team is put in place and the club have said this will be finalised in the coming weeks.

There had been speculation about the intentions of another Tipperary man, Tony Gleeson but he will not be the coach. Gleeson was brought in as coach by Hand two years ago and has won widespread praise for the work he has done with them as well as with Offaly U-20 hurlers, where he worked under Leo O'Connor in recent years.

Gleeson is popular with players and K-K may have wished to have kept him on board, once the new manager was happy. However, having been brought in by Hand, this posed an obvious dilemma for Gleeson, even if it is not unusual for coaches to stay on when the manager who brought him in is removed, and he is taking a year out from club activity in Ireland. Gleeson will be very much on board with Offaly U20 hurlers and is travelling to San Francisco to work with Tipperary hurlers there after the conclusion of that campaign.

Laffan's involvement in the first half of the year will be inevitably curtailed by his role with Tipperary and the appointment of a coach and selectors will be very important. The leagues will be beginning in a few weeks time while a very important early piece of business is naming the 18 players who can play senior only – having won the senior “B” title for the second year in a row, K-K have to name 18 who can only play in the top flight as technically all their second string players are regarded as senior following that win.

Senior “B” manager Mark Leonard worked with both squads last year and is likely to continue to do so. Tommy Bracken and Colm Cassidy were also selectors with Hand but they are likely to appoint new men.

In their statement on Sunday evening,K-K wished the new manager the best of luck and thanked Shane Hand and management team for their “work and success over the last three years”.