Offaly GAA committee make big call with decision to recommend new U20 football management

A HIGH powered Offaly GAA committee have made a big call with their decision that a new county U20 football manager should be appointed.

A review committee, including County Board chairman Tom Parlon, secretary Brendan Minnock, former chairman Michael Duignan and Operations Manager, John Hackett, has decided not to recommend the outgoing manager, Mark Plunkett, who had sought a second year at the helm.

Offaly's procedure for appointing managers is that a review committee meets with all incumbents and makes recommendations on whether they should continue, if they are interested. Their recommendations have to be approved by a full Management Committee meeting and a committee then has to be set up to appoint a new management.

All the immediate indications are that this year's Offaly minor football manager, Roger Ryan is in line to step up to the U20 job.

Speculation has been circulating for a few weeks that both Ryan and Plunkett wanted the job and this may have been a factor in last week's decision.

In a head to head with Plunkett, Ryan would have been favourite after leading Offaly to a sensational Leinster Minor Football Championship triumph in 2025 – a few of those players will go straight onto next year's U20 panel and some of them will make the team.

Offaly minors got motoring after a slow start, getting better and better with every game and snatching a dramatic late win over Louth in a thrilling final in Portlaoise. Living on their wits, playing heart attack football at times, Offaly captured the imagination of supporters with their character, never say die attitude and free flowing football.

They had a series of sensational wins in knockout games before running out of road in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Mayo, enduring a late narrow defeat.

It is still a tough, hard call on Tullamore man Plunkett who oversaw a Leinster U20 football campaign that never ignited. It just didn't happen for them as they struggled in preparation games and bowed out in the group with defeats by Westmeath and Dublin before snatching a late win against a second string Meath team, who had already qualified.

They then had a very poor defeat against Westmeath in the second tier Andrew Corden Cup final but that loss in particular should not have been a determining factor in the debate to appoint management – the squad weren't allowed continue to train after their championship campaign ended and Offaly football teams have a long standing tradition of not embracing second tier competitions.

Ironically Roger Ryan got another year in the helm after Offaly minor footballers suffered a second tier defeat against Waterford in 2024 while Declan Kelly got a second year as Offaly senior football manager in 2025 after a 2024 Tailteann Cup malfunction, albeit with Tyrone legend Mickey Harte drafted in as joint manager.

A former Offaly senior football selector on two different occasions, Plunkett was appointed with Galway man and former Offaly senior manager Gerry Fahy and former Offaly footballer, Brian Darby as coaches/selectors – Tullamore's Peter Kelly and Ballinagar's Paurig Gallagher were among his back up personnel. He had been a selector with Gerry Fahy in his controversial one season term in charge in 2004 and Fahy had opted out for 2026 for personal reasons.

There was speculation that Rhode and former Offaly star Niall McNamee was part of his new management package while last year's poor campaign was beyond Plunkett's control to a significant extent. Their star player Cillian Bourke was injured for most of it and didn't feature in the last game against Westmeath.. They would have been a good 10% stronger, if not higher, with the brilliantly talented Tullamore man on board. There were injuries to others, talented dual players such as Donal Shirley and Shane Rigney opted to concentrate on hurling and there were also withdrawals in the lead up to the championship. The absence of Bourke was a cruel blow and Offaly would have been a very different team if a midfield partnership could have been formed with him and Donal Shirley, whose focus is on hurling but is also a county standard footballer.

It meant that Offaly just couldn't get their strongest team out and their defeats by Dublin and Westmeath were not a big surprise, even if the performances were disappointing. They rallied the forces and played well when beating Carlow in the Andrew Corden Cup semi-final but wound down the year with an awful display in the 3-17 to 1-5 defeat to Westmeath. On the plus side, Plunkett and co did play several players who are eligible for this grade in 2026.

A former Shannonbridge footballer and chairman of the club, Roger Ryan has been manager of the Offaly minor footballers for the past few years and they really gained momentum this year as the season wore on.

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If Ryan does emerge as the U20 manager, there will be a vacancy for Offaly minor football manager and the initial leading candidate will be Shamrocks player and a former long serving county player, Nigel Dunne. Dunne just retired from intercounty football during the season this year and is still playing very well for his club Shamrocks, leading the attack in their run away Senior Football Championship win over Clonbullogue last Sunday. He came in as a coach with Roger Ryan last year and is familiar with all young talent in Offaly as he is employed as a Games Promotion Officer by the County Board.