WATERFORD are set to appoint Davy Fitzgerald as their hurling manager on Thursday evening.
The 51-year-old’s name is expected to go before a meeting of the county board for ratification in a move that would see his managerial career go full circle.
Fitzgerald took his first steps in senior inter-county management when handed the reins in Waterford in June 2008 after Justin McCarthy had been ousted in a player coup.
READ MORE: Eamonn Fitzmaurice rules out managing Kerry again
He took them to that year’s All-Ireland final, their first since 1963, as well the Munster title in 2010, which remains the last time they claimed provincial honours.
After stepping down in 2011, Fitzgerald took charge of his native Clare for five years before completing a similar stint in Wexford last year.
He is believed to have been one of three candidates on the shortlist to succeed Liam Cahill, who has been installed as Tipperary manager since vacating the Deise hotseat last month.
Former Laois boss Eddie Brennan was also strongly linked with the Waterford job while a return for Derek McGrath, who led the team to the 2017 All-Ireland final, was also mooted.
Waterford officials have remained tight-lipped as to who the chosen man is, however, though Fitzgerald’s is believed to be in pole position ahead of tomorrow’s county board meeting.
Elsewhere, Liam Kearns is on the brink of becoming the new Offaly senior football manager.
Kearns met with Offaly officials tonight to smooth over the final details around his appointment and it is expected that his name will be put forward for ratification at a later date.
The selection committee consisting county chairman Michael Duignan, secretary Colm Cummins, treasurer Dervill Dolan along with Paul Rouse and Stephen Darby, who formed part of an interim management team in 2018, have plumped for the former Limerick, Laois and Tipperary boss having made contact with a number of other prospective candidates, including ex-Galway manager Kevin Walsh.
It was assumed that Tomas O Se, who was involved in the management team this year under John Maughan, would step up into the role but a change in his work circumstances forced him to withdraw.
The make-up of Kearns’s management team is as yet unknown though it may well include Rhode’s Paschal Kellaghan, who was part of his coaching team in Tipperary in 2018.
Niall Stack, manager of county champions Tullamore, was also part of the Kerry native’s backroom team in Tipperary but is unable to commit to the county set-up at the moment.
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