JAMES McCartan is still Down manager after players “accepted they were in the wrong” following an apparent breach of discipline during a training camp in Dublin, according to county chairman Jack Devaney.
In the wake of the weekend events McCartan - a two-time All-Ireland winner as a player - is understood to have informed officials of his intention to quit the job he only began at the end of November last year.
Several members of the Down party also left the weekend training camp early following the incident, which involved a large number of players.
McCartan did not take Tuesday night’s training session, while intensive discussions continued in a bid to convince him not to walk away, as Down’s April 30 Ulster Championship quarter-final clash with Monaghan looms large on the horizon.
Devaney confirmed last night that the situation had been “rectified”, and that McCartan and assistant Aidan O’Rourke would take tomorrow night’s training session.
“It has now been sorted to everyone’s satisfaction,” said Devaney.
“Ultimately a situation arose at the weekend, players had to take responsibility for it, they had to rectify it, and to be fair they did.
“It was up to them to reassure him and say right, we made a mess of this at the weekend, trying to apologise and make sure they took responsibility for their actions, and show they needed and wanted James to come back to be part of this again.
“The players manned up, accepted they were in the wrong and said ‘we want to rectify this, we want to make sure we can get back on track here’.”
As for McCartan’s future beyond this summer, Devaney insists there has been no suggestion that his tenure could come to an end once the Championship is over.
“That’s not the case,” said the Bredagh clubman.
“I mean, I can never say with any management as to what way they want to do it themselves, but that wouldn’t stand as the case, no.”
This latest episode is something Down could have done without following a difficult campaign already.
Relegation from Division Two leaves the Mournemen likely to compete for the Tailteann Cup unless they reach the Ulster final, while the loss of key players such as Liam Kerr and Finn McElroy – both bound for America – is a hammer blow to an already diminished panel.
Heading into Championship, the mood music around Down has seldom been more sombre.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, I can perfectly understand all of that,” said Devaney, “there’s a big challenge ahead for that team, but all you can do is face it.
“Sometimes if a senior football team is not doing well - as has been the case this year - everyone tends to look at that and see the problems therein simply as a result of that, whereas I would tend to think there’s a lot of good that happens within the county.
“But we understand we’ve got standards there and we’ve got ambitions. If you’re not meeting them, you need to look at it and you need to work very hard to get things back.
“We’ve got to work at building everything else around that, and believe me that is happening. It’s just that what a lot of people see is you’re losing games, you’re getting relegated, everything’s a problem.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe it will come eventually but all these things, they’re challenges that we didn’t want but we have to deal with them.”
