TERENCE McNaughton last night told the Antrim county board he does not wish to be considered for the post of senior hurling manager.
County PRO Terry Gibbons said last night, after the board meeting, that Antrim had approached McNaughton to see if he wished to be interviewed for the post.
Gibbons added that having considered it, McNaughton had decided that his career wasn’t over long enough to consider going into senior management.
McNaughton himself said that the timing was all wrong for considering going for the job: “The bottom line is that I’m still playing and you can’t play and train for a club and run a county team at the same time.
“I’ve also just bought a pub, so the timing just isn’t right.”
While McNaughton wasn’t guaranteed the job, he surely would have been one of the favourites to fill the post.
Gibbons also confirmed that temporary football manager Brian White is the frontrunner to succeed Aidan Thornbury as the county’s senior football manager.
“It would be fair comment to say that Brian is the frontrunner for the job.
“He’s in charge of this Saturday’s B Championship match against Leitrim and the board will hold further talks after that,” said Gibbons.
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IRELAND will be sent out with the instruction to pile on the points when they open their World Cup campaign agaunst the USA on Saturday.
Coach Warren Gatland has named his strongest line-up in an attempt to get a comprehensive confidenceboosting victory on the board before the crucial Pool E match against Australia on Sunday week.
Gatland backed up his claims the camp would not underestimate their opening World Cup opponents by last night naming his strongest possible line-up for the match.
“This is arguably our strongest side,” he said.
“You cannot take chances in the World Cup and the composition of the side is an indication that we are not going to take the USA lightly.”
Malcolm O’Kelly’s fears were confirmed when he lost out in the second row to Jeremy Davidson and Paddy Johns.
O’Kelly has been vying with Johns for the lock position alongside Davidson but is currently out of favour after a series of impressive performances by the Ulster man in the warm-up matches.
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LAWRIE McMenemy has denied claims that he dubbed off-field facilities at Windsor Park ‘a disgrace’. Newspaper reports yesterday also alleged that the Northern Ireland manager said he was “almost ashamed” to bring visiting international teams to the south Belfast ground.
McMenemy did admit to commenting that facilities at Windsor Park are not “up to national stadium standard.” However, he insisted his only intention was to try and improve Northern Ireland soccer.
McMenemy’s remarks, uttered at a fringe meeting of the Labour Party conference in Blackpool, have caused a storm of controversy, with Linfield chairman Billy McCoubrey last night urging the Northern Ireland manager to resign.
