Fennelly set to depart Offaly role

Offaly hurling is set to have a new senior manager at the helm next year as Michael Fennelly will not be in charge in 2023, RTÉ Sport understands.

Fennelly, one of the greats of the game, won nine Leinster titles, five National Leagues, three All-Stars and the Hurler of the Year award in 2011 in a glittering playing career.

As Offaly manager, he guided the team to league and Christy Ring Cup success last year and narrowly failed to reach the Joe McDonagh Cup final this season.

The team was also without star player Oisin Kelly who had a cruciate ligament injury late last year.

Offaly have been out of the Leinster Championship since 2018 but their player pool is still redeveloping and Fennelly's men were unlucky this season not to clinch at least one more win in the McDonagh Cup campaign.

They also had to cope with the disruption that the pandemic brought with Offaly enduring four different lockdowns at various stages, including local shutdowns that also affected Laois and Kildare in 2020.

His side had success in Division 2A of the Allianz leagues last year and fared reasonably well against Wexford this season but struggled for parts of the campaign at that highest level against some of the best teams in the land.

They lost out on a place in the McDonagh Cup final this season on scoring difference only.

It’s understood that the senior players were informed by Fennelly this morning that he would not be at the helm going forward.

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