OUSTED Down minor manager Shane Mulholland has hit out at what he calls the “negativity” surrounding Down football.
The Ballyholland clubman, who lost a vote on whether his services should be retained for a third year at a county board meeting on Monday night, had been in charge for two years.
In his first year in the post Down lost to Tyrone by nine points and this year they lost out to Derry by seven. Derry went on to beat Cavan in the Ulster Final last weekend.
Mulholland readily accepts that two losses in two Championship games is not good enough but stated that he felt good progress was being made – which was not considered:
“Our original appointment was for a three year term, reviewable each year,” explained Mulholland.
“But if you lose two matches – two first round Championship matches – then you’re not going to buy yourself any time.
“It’s disappointing. We have put a lot of work into it – a lot of hours and people maybe don’t realise that it’s two nights a week and a Saturday and then there’s another day going to watch a minor league game in Down. Then there’s maybe another night on the phone – there’s a lot of effort put into it and maybe people don’t see that.
“We did all of that absolutely without claiming a single mile of expenses but we are all Down men and thought we were doing something good.”
Mulholland outlined that plans were also in place to work with former Down star, Conor Deegan as a selector next season, a move which he thought was “of significance.”
“There’s too much negativity and it’s not as bad as that,” he said.
“We’re discrediting a lot of stuff that is going on. And maybe if I have to fall by the wayside and somebody else picks it up and we get a wee bit more positivity going on then so be it, but personally I’m sore.”
Mulholland was also critical of what he views as a lack of public relations nous within Down, which he said does not compare favourably with other counties.
“I don’t necessarily think that everybody has the true picture because what we’re not good at doing it seems is generating positive PR for ourselves,” he continued.
“Tyrone did some PR in the last two weeks about re-naming their development squads – they’ve called them an Academy and this year they’ve come out and talked about not having minor trials and they are going to put more emphasis on their development squads.
“We did that – we didn’t have minor trials and we went back to the clubs and said you have to have players on development squads. I just wonder does the ordinary man in Newry or Downpatrick understand that those things are happening?
“Are we going to track a group of 15-year-olds for six or seven years and then see if what we’ve produced actually generates something or are we thinking that every two years we’ve got to change something because it’s not working and then we just give somebody else a go? I just think we have to be bigger than that.”
At the same meeting, Down senior boss, Jim McCorry narrowly won a vote on his future at the helm in the Mourne County. Mulholland gave the former Kilcoo manager, who has just completed a year with the Down seniors, a ringing endorsement.
“My opinion on Jim is that there was no better candidate for the job in Down football, given that he had won three Championships [with Kilcoo],” said Mulholland.
“He was a very obvious candidate. The team gained promotion to Division One, against anybody’s opinion at the start of the year and I think, personally, he was stitched up by the soundbite that was delivered by The Sunday Game in terms of his expectations for the year. The panel then jumped on it and all of a sudden we have a furore of negativity around – ‘Was that our expectation level?’”
“I’m pretty sure Jim McCorry was looking for a longer run in the Championship, but if you give an interview with The Sunday Game and you answer 10 or 12 questions and it takes five or six minutes and they pull out 15 seconds on you, [that’s unfair], you know?
“But I think that has just led to a whole maelstrom of negativity and even his own position – for the county board to come out and not endorse him and then the closed vote to bring him back – it’s a very difficult situation.”
As for his own immediate future in management, the 39-year-old said that he has currently no appetite for it but that being a Down manager has been “a privilege.”
“Right now I have no interest in managing any teams because I feel that sore about the whole thing – it feels like the two years of work have been kind of devalued,” he said.
“We went in with a genuine desire to try and do things better and the only thing that keeps me sane is there’s a bit of positive feedback coming my way.
“We hope we have made some positive impact.”
