Carr's job not so sure as Mullins bid looms

Speculation continued yesterday that former Dublin midfielder Brian Mullins may take over as the county's senior football manager. Although it was widely understood that Tom Carr was set to continue for a fifth year, there appears to be some confusion over the Dublin County Board's ratification of Carr's term.

Mullins yesterday indicated his interest in the position but said the matter was up to the county board.

Mullins is the director of sport at UCD and he managed the Derry football team for three years.

Dublin County Board chairman John Bailey said Carr was still manager as far as he was concerned and had done "an excellent job with Dublin".

He also said any developments on the matter would only come in the form of official statements from the county board. It was also revealed that the next county board meeting takes place on Monday night and the matter of Carr's term is set to arise, although it is up to the eight-man management committee to ratify the nomination of the county management team.

As yet, however, there is no indication of when the management committee will present that nomination. Carr has already indicated his desire to continue as manager, along with his selectors John O'Leary, Richie Crean and Dom Twomey. It is also known he has the backing of the players.

Carr was given a new two-year deal after last year's championship, which had ended somewhat abruptly with the second-half collapse against Kildare in the Leinster final replay. After losing the Leinster final to Meath this summer, Carr then took Dublin to a quarter-final replay against Kerry.

He is also serving a six-month sideline suspension as a result of incidents in the drawn match with Kerry, although that will end before the start of next year's National League.

Mullins returned to Dublin last year after spending a period as school principal in Carndonagh in Donegal. It was during that time that he worked with the Derry team, ending his three-year term after the semi-final defeat to Galway in 1998.

The issue of Carr's future was raised after the defeat to Kerry as well as in the aftermath of his six-month suspension. At that time, Bailey indicated that the county board was fully behind Carr's term for the coming year and at no stage was there any indication of an opposing candidate.

The emergence of Mullins as a possible candidate seems set to alter that situation. His experience with Derry was largely positive, helping them to win the National League in 1996 in his first year in charge, and then adding the Ulster title two years later.

His senior inter-county career started in 1974 and included four All-Ireland winning medals. A serious car accident in 1980 almost ended his career but having spent over a year recovering, he returned to win an All-Ireland in 1983, as well as captaining the side that lost the 1985 final.