Offaly's All-Ireland winning camogie manager steps down

OFFALY camogie are in search of a new manager after David Sullivan and his management team stepped down after two years in charge.

The Lorrha man led Offaly to the All-Ireland intermediate title less than two weeks ago when they defeated Kerry by 0-14 to 0-11 in the final at Croke Park but now has decided to depart.

So when Offaly return to seniors ranks next season after two years at intermediate level they will do so under new management.

And if speculation is to be believed, they possibly could come up against a team managed by David Sullivan as he is sure to be linked to the management vacancy in his native Tipperary. Denis Kelly also stepped down from the Tipperary senior manager's role recently following Tipperary's defeat to Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. Kelly had led Tipperary to the Division 1 League title in 2024 but had lost at the All-Ireland semi-final stage three years in succession.

David Sullivan has managed Tipperary at junior level and in his one season in charge led them to the All-Ireland final in 2023 only to lose out narrowly to Clare but following his success with Offaly he is sure to be linked now to that Tipperary vacancy.

A statement from Offaly camogie said “The Executive of the Offaly Camogie County Board wish to offer our sincere thanks and gratitude to David Sullivan and his management team who have stepped down.

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“David and his team outlined their goal of achieving an All-Ireland with Offaly at the start of his tenure two years ago. In his first year in charge he brought stability, confidence and professional organisation to the set up that brought the team to an All-Ireland Intermediate semi-final. In his second year David and his team brought back a National League Division 2A title and an All-Ireland Intermediate Championship title. It's been 15 years since our last national titles.

“In that time he has introduced a lot of young players to the set up and has left Offaly Camogie with confidence and pride for the future going forward.

“We wish David Sullivan and his backroom team the very best wishes in the future,” concluded the statement.

David Sullivan took over as Offaly manager in November 2023 a few months after Offaly had been relegated from senior level after 13 years at the top grade. Offaly's first season at intermediate level ended in All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Cork but they put that disappointment behind them this year and won Division 2A of the league and followed up with an All-Ireland final victory over Kerry.

David and his management team came in at a time when camogie at low ebb in the county. Speaking before the recent All-Ireland final he said “the biggest thing really was that we were fresh voices coming in. We're all from Tipperary bar one or two, so we were new to this group of girls and I'll never forget the first night we met them in Banagher in November 2023 and I said we're going to win an All-Ireland final and I think some of them thought I was born in a different universe or planet. I don't think they believed it but slowly we drew a line in the sand and moved on from everything that had happened previously. We asked for a buy in and we've got that. It's immense the amount of work done over the last two years.”

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For a young man David has a lengthy CV of clubs he has been involved with. He started out in 2007 and noted that he was still only 38. He was with Scarriff Ogonolloe and won the Munster Senior Club and prior to that was with Davitts in Galway for four or five years and got to a Galway senior final. He also worked with Silvermines in Tipperary. He was Tipperary Junior manager then for a year and led them to the All-Ireland final and a couple of months later took over the Offaly role.