Long time playing stalwart appointed as new Tullamore senior football manager

WHILE speculation about him being in the frame for the job has circulated for some weeks, Tullamore GAA Club have pulled a rabbit from the hat by appointing long time playing stalwart Paul McConway as their new senior football manager.

McConway's appointment was ratified at a meeting of the Tullamore GAA committee on Thursday evening. He succeeds Niall Stack, Tullamore's most successful manager ever who stepped down a couple of months ago after five years in the hot seat.

Stack, a playing colleague with McConway during the 2000s, led Tullamore to three Senior Football Championship titles in his five years and this year, he removed two huge blemishes from the club record – they retained the championship for the first time since 1926 and won their first Leinster club game since 1977.

Tullamore ran eventual All-Ireland champions Cuala close in the Leinster semi-final late last year and with mounting family commitments, Stack opted out a couple of weeks after that. With some of the best young footballers in Offaly at their disposal, Stack hands the team over to McConway in a very healthy position.

A secondary school teacher in Clara, McConway was corner back on the Tullamore team that won the championship last year. While he held his own, it was also clear in some games that the end game as a regular on the team had arrived and his quick transition into management draws a line on that – he won't be playing at senior level this year and it remains to be seen if he will play intermediate..

Quietly spoken and articulate but with a hard edge, McConway was one of the best defenders in Offaly for several years. He was a regular on the Offaly team for over a decade from 2006, a rock steady defender who generally got the job done without fuss.

He won an Intermediate Football Championship medal with Tullamore in 2004 and has won more Senior Football Championship medals with them than any player since the 1930s – he won medals in 2007, 2013, when he was captain, 2021, 2023 and 2024.

He played centre half or full back for years and has been corner back most recently. Before his engine began to drift into the red in the past couple of years, his attacking forays up the field were a feature of his performances for Tullamore and he regularly found himself in advanced forward positions.

He looks to have the personality and the aptitude to be a very good manager but his appointment still represents a definite risk for Tullamore. He is a managerial novice, he is managing players he has played with and not every quality footballer makes the transition into a good manager. At the same time, McConway's appointment will go down well with the club and players. He is hugely popular and he has been a real leader on the field and in the dressing room, not afraid to speak his opinion and deliver home truths when the team weren't performing.

A committee of club chairman Tom Moloney, vice chairman Kieran Egan and players, Declan Hogan and Michael Brazil were tasked with the job of getting a new manager. They carried out an extensive search and people from outside the county as well as inside were spoken to but they eventually looked inward and went for McConway.

There is a lot of merit in staying inside and not going for a high profile outsider. It worked spectacularly with Stack and they will be hoping that McConway will continue on in the same vein. There will be considerable pressure on the new manager. Tullamore will be the favourites to make it three in a row in 2025 and their display against Cuala suggests that they can make progress outside the county.

The Offaly championship, however, will be the only thing on McConway's mind in the short term and he will be taking it one game at a time. With McConway taking his first steps into management at this level, the appointment of his back room team will be very important and awaited with interest. They will be trying to secure a very good coaching set up as well as solid selectors.

There had been rumours about former Dublin footballer, Jason Sherlock taking over before Christmas but these were quickly scotched and even at that stage, McConway was being touted as a possible candidate and in the frame for it.