Breaking Paddy Carr quits as Donegal manager after five months

Paddy Carr has stepped down as Donegal senior football manager after only five months in charge following a meeting with the players.

The county are bottom of Division 1 with three points heading into the final round of the Allianz Football League and are almost certainly facing relegation.

Donegal GAA said in a statement they "regret to announce that Paddy Carr is resigning as Donegal manager".

Carr said: "Following a discussion with some senior members of the Donegal football team, I want to announce that I'm stepping away from the position of Donegal team manager with immediate effect.

"I want nothing more than the best for Donegal and that will never change".

A former Donegal player, who managed Louth and Kilmacud Crokes among others, Carr was only appointed in late October, after a three-month search for a successor to Declan Bonner, on an initial two-year term.

Armagh All-Ireland winner Aidan O'Rourke served as his head coach.

The news of Carr’s resignation after just six league games comes at a time when the county is in the midst of a crisis with its underage academy.

Karl Lacey quit as head of academy development last month, with a host of coaches subsequently standing down in solidarity with him.

A special county committee meeting has been pencilled in for Thursday evening to update club delegates on that ongoing controversy.

But the pressing priority is to install a new manager ahead of the upcoming championship. Donegal face Down in an Ulster SFC quarter-final on 23 April.

Additional reporting: Damian Lawlor