Corrigan alarmed by manner of exit

Sligo SF: The fickle nature of GAA management has again been underlined by Dominic Corrigan's abrupt removal from the Sligo senior football team, which he described as "sad and pathetic".

Corrigan had showed up for training as usual on Tuesday night, only to be suddenly called aside and told his services as manager were no longer required. Yet the Sligo County Board have defended their decision, saying the matter was discussed by the county executive for over 90 minutes prior to the training session, and that telling Corrigan "face to face" was the honest way of doing it.

Sligo had lost their first two matches in the football league, first to Tipperary and then to Waterford last Sunday - a game they were widely expected to win. Corrigan, who'd formerly managed his native Fermanagh, insists he had no idea that his days as manager were numbered, and was more concerned about turning Sligo's form around in the coming weeks as many of his leading names returned from injury.

"I went up to a training session as normal," he says, "and was down on the Kevinsfort pitch, putting out the cones and ready to get started. I'd someone setting up the portable lights, and he came down to me and said there's a bit of problem, to go up to the dressingroom complex.

"So I went up to the car park at the St Mary's club house, which is a few hundred yards away, and two guys literally just jumped out of a van. It was like vigilante stuff. It turned out it was the chairman, John Murphy, and another man I didn't know.

"They just ushered me into a side room and told me there and then that my services were no longer required, nor that of the management team I had in place.

"Obviously I was shocked. The players were just told to stay in the dressing-room, but I thought the least they could have done was called me before and explained what was going to happen. But as far as they were concerned it was done and dusted.

"I was in such a state of shock, but also very upset and hurt. All I could do was get in the car and drive home. There's ways and means of doing things, but I thought the way they dealt with this was sad and pathetic, and I've no qualms in saying that."

Pádraig Duffy, the Sligo PRO and designated spokesman on the matter, admitted events had progressed at speed but said the county board dealt with the matter as best they could.

"First of all, Sligo football has been at a very low ebb for the past two weeks," said Duffy. "And losing to Waterford was definitely a low point. A full meeting of the county executive was scheduled for Tuesday evening at five to discuss the situation, and it was a very fair and open meeting. Each of the 14 members had their say, and a unanimous decision was reached to remove the current management. But it wasn't taken lightly either.

"At that stage it was getting very close to the training session, and we know Dominic Corrigan would have been on route from Enniskillen. Rather than call him on the phone in transit, it was agreed he should be told face to face. So our county chairman, John Murphy, and our development officer, John Clifford, were delegated to go down to training and tell him.

"So the time factor was really the main concern at that stage. There's no easy way of doing this, but all the county executive agreed it was better to do it face to face. There was certainly no insult intended, and we can understand why Dominic mightn't be happy about it, but one of the things we also wanted to do was thank him for his time and commitment to Sligo over the past 15 months."

Murphy had been a selector on the previous Sligo management under James Kearins before taking over as county chairman last December.

"I just know the players were told after I'd left that I'd been sacked," Corrigan said, "and that training was cancelled, but there'd be a new management team in place by Friday night, and they were to show up at Sligo IT. I'm glad for the players that this is the case. But I didn't think they'd get rid of me in such a disrespectful manner. It proves to me that things were going on long before last Sunday's result against Waterford. The wheels were in motion, no question about that.

"You don't meet people that are so disrespectful like that very often, but like in any walk of life I just expect good manners. That's the one thing I wasn't afforded."

Corrigan was also in charge of the county under-21 team. Murphy, Clifford and Sligo's Connacht representative, Joe Taaffe, have been appointed to seek a replacement.