The merry-go-round of intercounty management has nearly come to a halt as teams get ready to prepare for the coming season, writes Ian O'Riordan

THE DUBLIN County Board have found themselves in the unenviable position of being last on the list in securing a senior managerial appointment for next season. While Monday week, December 1st, has been set as the latest deadline for the unveiling of their new hurling manager, all other counties have now got their positions filled, in both hurling and football - leaving Dublin as the unlikely odd one out.

It hasn't been through lack of effort, and while several high-profile candidates were linked to the position - including Nicky English, DJ Carey, and even Séan Boylan - the search is continuing. County board chairman Gerry Harrington remains confident they will have a final candidate to put before the next county committee meeting on Monday week, although there is still no great certainty as to who that person will be.

Following Tuesday's confirmation in Galway that John McIntrye would succeed Ger Loughnane as their hurling manager, all 12 counties set to contest the Liam MacCarthy Cup now have their managers in place - although there is still some doubt, it has to be said, as to whether Gerald McCarthy will definitely be taking charge of Cork for a third season.

However, the message coming out of Tuesday's county board meeting in Cork was that while club delegates are insisting the player stand-off is sorted out as soon as possible, they don't want it done so at McCarthy's expense.

Furthermore, McCarthy's announcement yesterday of a 31-man Cork panel to play in Sunday's senior challenge game against St Colman's merely underlines his intention to press ahead with his duties as manager despite the strike-like stance of the established players.

Of the 12 counties set to contest the hurling All-Ireland, almost half will do so with new managers with Galway, Limerick, Wexford, Laois and Dublin all putting new men in charge for 2009.

Davy Fitzgerald was reappointed in Waterford having taken over in the course of last summer's championship from Justin McCarthy, while everyone else is either on a second or third year in charge - with the obvious exception of Brian Cody in Kilkenny, who bucks the trend of high managerial turnover as he heads into his 11th consecutive year in charge.

It took less than two minutes for Kilkenny club delegates to rubberstamp Cody's reappointment at the county board meeting earlier this month, and for 2009 he will once again be joined by selectors Martin Fogarty and Michael Dempsey.

In football, the managerial turnover of recent weeks has been quite sensational.

While Munster counties have displayed relative security with only one new appointment (Jack O'Connor returning to the Kerry job), there are three new appointments in Connacht, six in Leinster, and another four in Ulster.

New Roscommon manager Fergal O'Donnell in fact finds himself the fourth man in charge of the senior football team this year: John Maughan was unceremoniously sacked midway through the National League, with Paul Earley then taking over as caretaker manager for the remainder of that campaign. Michael Ryan was then appointed manager for the championship, before O'Donnell, who managed the Roscommon minors to the 2006 All-Ireland, was handed a two-year term.

The longest serving football manager is, unsurprisingly, Tyrone's Mickey Harte who is entering a seventh term in charge, having now delivered three All-Irelands since his first year back in 2003.

Séamus McEneaney is entering his fifth season in charge of Monaghan, while among those entering a fourth season is Tomás Ó Flatharta, whose reappointment was confirmed earlier this week.

Ó Flatharta has also added Pat Flanagan to his backroom team, the Clara native who lost out to Richie Connor for the Offaly manager's job. Flanagan joins Westmeath as a selector who, along with the outgoing Paul Conway, is one of the best-respected coaches in the midlands, having guided Tyrrellspass to back-to-back Westmeath titles in 2006 and 2007, as well as a Leinster club final appearance last year. Flanagan takes over from Eamonn Gallagher, who was recently appointed Westmeath hurling manager in succession to Johnny Dooley.

FOOTBALL

Munster

Clare: Frank O'Doherty - no change (2nd year).

Cork: Conor Counihan - no change (2nd year).

Kerry: Jack O'Connor - succeeds Pat O'Shea (1st year of 2nd term).

Limerick: Mickey O'Sullivan - no change (4th year).

Tipperary: John Evans - no change (2nd year).

Waterford: John Kiely - no change (4th year).

Connacht

Galway: Liam Sammon - no change (2nd year).

Leitrim: Mickey Moran - succeeds Dessie Dolan.

Mayo: John O'Mahony - no change (3rd year).

Roscommon: Fergal O'Donnell - succeeds Michael Ryan.

Sligo: Kevin Walsh - succeeds Tommy Brehony.

Leinster

Carlow: Luke Dempsey - succeeds Paul Bealin.

Dublin: Pat Gilroy - succeeds Paul Caffrey.

Kildare: Kieran McGeeney - no change (2nd year).

Laois: Séan Dempsey - succeeds Liam Kearns.

Longford: Glen Ryan - succeeds Luke Dempsey.

Louth: Eamonn McEneaney - no change (4th year).

Meath: Eamonn O'Brien - succeeds Colm Coyle.

Offaly: Richie Connor - succeeds Pat Roe.

Wexford: Jason Ryan - no change (2nd year).

Westmeath: Tomas Ó Flatharta - no change (4th year).

Wicklow: Mick O'Dwyer - no change (3rd year).

Ulster

Antrim: Liam Bradley - succeeds Jody Gormley.

Armagh: Peter McDonnell - no change (2nd year).

Cavan: Tommy Carr - succeeds Donal Keoghan.

Derry: Damien Cassidy - succeeds Paddy Crozier.

Donegal: John Joe Doherty - succeeds Brian McIver.

Down: Ross Carr - no change (3rd year).

Fermanagh: Malachy O'Rourke - no change (2nd year) Monaghan: Séamus McEneaney - no change (5th year).

Tyrone: Mickey Harte - no change (7th year).

HURLING

(The 12 Liam MacCarthy Cup contenders only):

Antrim: Terence McNaughton - no change (3rd year).

Clare: Michael McNamara - no change (2nd year).

Cork: Gerald McCarthy - no change (3rd year).

Dublin: (successor to Tommy Naughton to be finalised).

Galway: John McIntyre - succeeds Ger Loughnane.

Kilkenny: Brian Cody - no change (11th year).

Laois: Niall Rigney - succeeds Damien Fox.

Limerick: Justin McCarthy - succeeds Richie Bennis.

Offaly: Joe Dooley - no change (2nd year).

Tipperary: Liam Sheedy - no change (2nd year).

Waterford: Davy Fitzgerald - succeeds Justin McCarthy.

Wexford: Colm Bonner - succeeds John Meyler.