THE MANAGERIAL hiring season continues in full swing with a number of counties inching closer to finalising appointments. One of the more intriguing situations is in Limerick where the county unexpectedly found itself without a hurling manager after Donal O’Grady’s shock resignation.

So just a year after O’Grady’s appointment, the county’s Independent Appointments Committee, the body charged with making recommendations to the county board and which plays a supervisory role in resolving any difficulties between management and officials, must meet again.

Former Cork manager John Allen, who coincidentally replaced O’Grady in Cork, and former Limerick captain and selector TJ Ryan are two of the names believed to be in the running.

Just one candidate has been spoken to so far but the feeling is the committee will make up its mind fairly quickly in order to allow O’Grady’s successor to get the players together before the GAA’s close season kicks in at the end of next month.

Galway appear to be close to filling their managerial vacancies in both football and hurling without what former manager Cyril Farrell once described as more “blood on the floor”.

Alan Mulholland is expected to be ratified as football boss with his strong CV of having managed teams to All-Ireland success at minor level in 2007 and at under-21 level this year.

In an echo of the successful Dublin management structure that delivered All-Ireland success to the county, Mulholland, like Pat Gilroy, another former county player in the 1990s, is expected to involve veteran coach Liam Sammon in a role not dissimilar to that played by Mickey Whelan, who announced his retirement at the weekend, in Dublin.

Galway are in the happy position of having won the All-Ireland under-21 titles in both codes this year and hurling manager Anthony Cunningham is in pole position to take over the reins of the senior team from John McIntyre who stepped down this summer.

His under-21 selectors Mattie Kenny and Tom Helebert are expected to join Cunningham if appointed although the process isn’t as fully progressed as with the footballers.

Cunningham has also been a successful football club coach in both Connacht with St Brigid’s and Leinster with Garrycastle.

Another manager speculated to be about to cross codes is Jason Ryan, currently in charge of the Wexford footballers but who is regarded as the front-runner for the hurling vacancy in his native county Waterford. Originally a hurler with the De La Salle club, Ryan was a dual player who quit the game to concentrate on playing football with the county but his managerial experience has been in football.

Nonetheless, he has done so well with Wexford, leading the county to two Leinster finals and an All-Ireland semi-final, that he attracted the interest of the sub-committee in Waterford, charged with finding a successor to David Fitzgerald.

Were Ryan appointed he would be mirroring the career path of Seán Boylan who managed the county hurlers before being appointed to take care of the footballers at the end of 1982 and who went on to bring the county to four All-Ireland titles.

Ryan has been linked with former Kilkenny goalkeeper James McGarry as coach, a role he impressively filled with Ballyhale Shamrocks when taking them to an All-Ireland club title last year.

Finally it was announced yesterday that the name of Cork’s dual All-Ireland winner Teddy McCarthy has been recommended to the Laois executive and county board to fill the vacancy with the county’s hurlers.

THE GAA’s Ulster Council has announced an initiative that will give people the opportunity to gain a recognised qualification in “GAA Performance Sports Coaching” and “GAA Sports Management”, both of which will be accredited Level 3 Diploma courses. The initiative has been designed to provide GAA volunteers with the opportunity to develop skills that may benefit them when seeking employment.

Ulster GAA working with Open College Network Northern Ireland (OCNNI) and Skills Active will deliver the courses in Armagh from Wednesday, 5th October.

Contact is course co-ordinator Roger Keenan, roger.keenan.ulster@gaa.ie, and the Ulster GAA website has full details also, www.ulster.gaa.ie.