Senior manager interviews to take place in coming days

GAA news

The two nominated candidates for the position of Cavan senior team manager will be interviewed in the coming days.

Head of Operations, Martin Cahill, confirmed on Tuesday that the sub-committee tasked with finding the next manager are due to meet tin order to arrange interviews with both Dermot McCabe and Finbar O’Reilly respectively. It is understood the candidates have since been contacted, with the interviews likely to place this weekend.

A number of officers and one of the candidates were away in the last week but the board hope to meet both in the coming week. The Anglo-Celt understands the candidates have been told the interview will focus on their vision for the role, with little emphasis on proposed back-room teams.

At the time of writing, McCabe, who is employed as Head of Games with Cavan county board, remains in place as Westmeath senior football manager, with the Westmeath county board officially indicating that they are hopeful he will be in a position to continue in that role.

“The official line is Dermot McCabe is still our manager,” Westmeath chairman Frank Mescall told the Anglo-Celt’s sister paper, the Westmeath Examiner.

“We have to understand the lure of his own county, but he remains our manager and we hope that is the case going forward.”

Cavan have appointed a five-man sub-committee who are tasked with interviewing prospective managers. The committee consists of Cahill (Head of Operations, secretary), Mark O’Rourke (chairman), John Keating (vice chairman), Tom Moore (Treasurer) and Peter Reilly (former Cavan footballer and U21 manager).

There are a number of potential conflicts of interest which may lead to some officers recusing themselves from the process.

“It’s possible, the Management Committee have a conflict of interest policy anyway. That would be expected,” stated Cahill.

While the selection sub-committee were not limited to nominations from the clubs, it appears highly unlikely at this stage that another candidate outside of McCabe and O’Reilly will be approached.

Cahill previously stated that “If one or other of these is a good fit, we’d love a to appoint a Cavan person to the role. If that isn’t the case, we will explore beyond that.”

Raymond Galligan stood down as Cavan senior team manager unexpectedly on Monday, July 7. With Larry Reilly stepping down as U20 manager, that position is also now vacant, with the board opting to fill the senior position first.