HURLING: Cork's All-Ireland winning manager Donal O'Grady has stepped down after two years in charge of the senior hurling team. O'Grady only agreed to a two-year term when appointed two years ago but the team's success in last month's final had prompted hopes he could be persuaded to extend his tenure.

But those close to him believed he wouldn't change his mind. In the end, the pressures of accommodating the work necessary for intercounty management with a busy job as principal of North Monastery's Irish language college and family life proved irreconcilable.

"It was a huge shock," said Cork county chairperson Jim Forbes, "but he had told me last December that he would be opting out at the end of the season, regardless of how it went. Naturally we had hoped he would change his mind but finally he told me today at 1.30 that he would be stepping down.

"What he has done for Cork hurling is immense. He came in at a difficult time and worked very hard. In his first year he won Munster and was unlucky to lose to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final. He came back this year not only to win the All-Ireland but with Cork playing tremendous hurling all year."

An All-Ireland winner with Cork in 1984 and with his club St Finbarr's twice in both football, 1980 and '81, and hurling, 1975 and '78, O'Grady had also been well known as an analyst on RTÉ and TG4.

Although he was highly regarded as a coach, the backdrop to his appointment was unpromising. In 2002, the team had lost disappointingly in the championship to Waterford and then in the qualifiers to Galway. In the latter half of that year, Cork players made known their unhappiness at the facilities and resources being made available to the county team.

Manager Bertie Murphy, who had led many of the players to two All-Ireland under-21 titles, was a casualty of the fallout and resigned after a year in charge.

The county board acquiesced to virtually all of the players' demands and O'Grady was named as Murphy's successor. In the circumstances there was considerable pressure to perform on both the players and the new management.

"Donal has a tremendous hurling brain and is a tremendous coach," said Forbes. "You could see that in his training sessions with the emphasis on blocking, hooking and tackling. But his biggest attribute was the professionalism he brought to the set-up."

This point was emphasised by one of O'Grady's predecessors and clubmate, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, who had managed the previous All-Ireland winning Cork side of 1999.

"I'd say he's exactly the sort of manager who's valued highly by modern players. Donie would be meticulous in his approach to everything. I think in the past things might have been a bit more haphazard but that's not what's expected nowadays.

"He's very single-minded and wouldn't suffer fools gladly. All players would be treated the same, numbers one to 30. No one would be placed on a pedestal. He's a fantastic technical coach. I've seen it myself. He'd do things until they were got right.

"He felt that skills had to be practised again and again. The drills he introduced may have struck the players as repetitive and boring but they could see quickly that his way was going to be beneficial."

O'Grady joins a relatively select club of managers who have stepped down after winning an All-Ireland. Most recently Wexford hurling manager Liam Griffin and Pat O'Neill, who took Dublin to their last football All-Ireland, called it a day in 1996 and '95, respectively.

Forbes says next week's county board meeting will set in motion the procedures to appoint a new manager. Although the teams don't return to training until the beginning of January, he said, "the sooner the decision is made the better".

Among the names already mentioned are Seánie O'Leary, who has been a selector with the last two All-Ireland winning teams, and Gerald McCarthy, another Barr's clubmate of O'Grady and Barry-Murphy, who managed Waterford until 2001 and was trainer to the 1990 All-Ireland winning Cork team.