Despite all the speculation linking Pat O'Shea with the vacant Kerry football management position, an appointment is still some weeks away. Yesterday O'Shea stated he'd so far had no formal contact from the Kerry County Board and that for now his priority was preparing his club, Dr Crokes, for this Sunday's Kerry senior football final.

There is also the apparent obstacle of O'Shea's role as full-time games manager with the Munster Council. According to the Munster Council chairman, Seán Fogarty, it's impossible for full-time GAA coaches to manage county teams because of a conflict of interests and the time constraints involved.

Those obstacles could be cleared by O'Shea taking a sabbatical should he be offered the role of new Kerry manager, although he wouldn't be drawn into the likelihood of that happening at a stage when the board have yet to formally close in on their preferred candidate.

"I haven't even been approached at this stage," said O'Shea. "So an awful lot of this is speculation, and being played up by the media. Obviously my main thoughts at the moment are on Sunday's final."

But O'Shea didn't rule out his interest in the job: "Of course it is a great opportunity to get involved and like anyone else involved at management at any level, I would love to take the opportunity, at some stage. I'm no different from anyone else in that regard."

It's over three weeks since Jack O'Connor stepped down as manager along with his backroom team of trainer Pat Flanagan and selectors Ger O'Keeffe and Johnny Culloty. After winning two All-Ireland titles in his first three years the job was always O'Connor's for another year if he wanted it, but he opted instead to leave on a winning note.

Kerry's monthly board meeting took place last Tuesday night, with chairman Seán Walsh admitting the process of seeking a replacement for O'Connor was only now beginning: "The situation is that we met last week, and a three-man sub-committee was formed, consisting of myself as chairman, secretary Eamon O'Sullivan and treasurer John Joe Carroll, and we will now start our work by getting together and having a meeting.

"This meeting will identify a manager and a management team, we will then report back to the executive, within the next two weeks, with a nomination for the executive. We would hope that the executive would accept this nomination and it would then be put to a county board meeting for ratification. We may have to call an emergency meeting in the short term because there is not one due until the county convention on December 11th."

Current minor manager John Kennedy and former Kerry great Eoin Liston ruled themselves out at an early stage, but could yet be re-approached by the committee.

O'Shea is one of Munster's two games managers, appointed three years ago, with responsibility for counties Kerry, Limerick and Clare.

Despite his huge commitment to that job O'Shea has managed to keep working with his club, Dr Crokes, in Killarney, who face two-time defending champions South Kerry in Sunday's final at Fitzgerald Stadium. O'Shea was on the team when Dr Crokes last won the county title in 2000, and having lost to South Kerry in last year's decider, he's hoping his team are better prepared this time around.

Dr Crokes' outstanding players are Colm Cooper and Eoin Brosnan, their two starters from Kerry's All-Ireland winning team. Panellists Kieran Cremin and Kieran O'Leary are also on the team, but they have to contend with some equally big names in the South Kerry team including All-Ireland winning captain Declan O'Sullivan and a certain Maurice Fitzgerald.

Two other high-profile football management positions are still under scrutiny. The Galway board meet this evening to decide whether to appoint Peter Ford for a third year as senior football manager. Ford's position was due to be ratified two weeks ago but was deferred when he was unable to attend the meeting.

In the meantime there has been some speculation about the approval of his backroom team, announced recently as Eoin O'Donnellan, who guided Salthill-Knocknacarra to their first All-Ireland club success earlier this year, and Peter Warren, a selector with John O'Mahony when Galway won the All-Ireland title in 1998 and 2001. O'Donnellan and Warren are due to replace outgoing selectors Francis Roche, Frank Broderick and Ciarán Ó Fatharta. Ja Fallon stepped down as a selector last July when announcing his comeback.

Galway football board secretary John Power was a little hesitant in describing Ford's reappointment as a formality: "You never know in these situations," he said. "He will be proposed and it will then go to the floor but of course at this stage we hope that it will all go to plan."

Mayo are still awaiting word on O'Mahony's intentions, and whether he's in a position to take over from Mickey Moran and John Morrison. What is clear is that Mayo want O'Mahony for the job and it's his if he wants it, but a few more rounds of discussions are necessary before anything is agreed.

"I'm hoping to be in a position to make a decision early next week," said O'Mahony yesterday. "My talks with Mayo have been well flagged, but there are several issues here. I am starting into a political campaign, and have to decide if it's possible to do both. So there are still a few hurdles to be cleared yet."