McGlinchey and Horan remain football front runners

MAURICE Horan and Tom McGlinchey remain the front runners to replace Mickey Ned O’Sullivan as Limerick’s new senior football manager.
A final decision is expected before the weekend and yet another special County Board meeting will have to be scheduled in the near future to ratify the selected candidate.
It appears that there is a strong feeling that there should be some continuity going forward and this would point toward Maurice Horan.
Horan has played inter-county football with both his native Mayo and Limerick. This season the Ballinrobe native was Limerick under-21 manager and a selector with Mickey Ned O’Sullivan’s senior management.
Under John Maughan’s stewardship Horan made his Mayo senior debut in 2003 as a 27-year-old, but that winter work commitments saw him move to Limerick and he transferred to Monaleen and joined up with Liam Kearns’ inter-county panel.
But Horan was plagued by injury and had to take a break from the game. For the last two seasons he has been involved with the Na Piarsaigh intermediate footballers.
Leader Sport has learned that Horan could be bringing Ephie Fitzgerald on board in his backroom team.
The former Nemo Rangers manager won three All-Ireland club medals with his club as a player.
Also in the frame is former Tipperary senior football manager Tom McGlinchey.
The Cork native led Tipperary to a 2002 Munster final appearance and was coach to the Ballylanders side that won the 2007 County SFC title. Withdrawn from the process are former Limerick and Laois senior football manager Liam Kearns and former Clare senior football manager John Kennedy.
The two Kerry natives were among the six nominations initially submitted by the clubs of the county however football committee officials have the remit to source a manager from outside the short list.
John Galvin, Sean McAuliffe and Michael Sheehan have been handed the task of finding the new manager who will have to be ratified by both the football committee and the County Board.

Jerome O’Connell