Louth boss Kierans to meet county board over future

Wayne Kierans is expected to meet with Louth GAA’s hierarchy in the coming days to discuss his future as senior team manager.

The O’Connell’s clubman’s two-year term officially came to an end when the Reds bowed out of the Leinster Championship with a defeat by Longford.

His appointment included the option of a third season upon review and a decision is imminent.

Kierans was unwilling to state his intention either way following the Mullingar outing.

“I’ve to talk to the County Board and see what they want to do,” he told The Democrat. “There’ll be no rash decisions on my part.

“From my point of view, we just follow the process; simple as that, and the process will be followed in the right way on my part.”

Asked if the improved displays of recent weeks, which involved several young players, have strengthened his position, Kierans added: “I’d be the first person to say that it should be judged on the overall season and we didn’t have a good league; there’s no hiding away from that and I’ll take responsibility for it.

“The small crumb of hope is that there were a lot of new players taken in after the break, some new players introduced and I think we should be positive going forward -- and we never are.

“I know all those young players really well; they’ve come up with me from minor and it was amazing to see so many of them playing championship football. That’s certainly the positive; Kiki (Ciarán Keenan) will learn to deal with the physicality of it, so will Conor (Whelan), Sam (Mulroy) is there already, Liam (Jackson), Gerry Garland and Dan (Corcoran) are there already. In the overall picture, that’s a positive, but today you’re sickened that you didn’t get that bounce of the ball.

On Mulroy, who kicked all of Louth’s 1-7 in the two-point reverse, the Wee boss said: “He was my minor captain in 2016 and to see how he’s developed… It’s not outlandish to say that he’s one of the best forwards in the province. He’s a great lad and he will be a big leader for Louth for years to come.

“Not only is he talented, he has a great attitude, and so does Liam Jackson, Dan Corcoran, Gerry Garland… They’re good players and great lads.”