Ulster duo's woes indicate changing managerial landscape

We're nearing the end of the most frenetic round of managerial speed dating anyone can remember and three Division 1 teams still haven't found a partner.

As it stands, none of Monaghan, Donegal or Roscommon, all operating in the top tier in 2023, have a manager on board.

Monaghan, the great over-achievers of the 2010s, have experienced a bruising off-season, getting knocked back a couple of times. We've already heard tell of how Jason Sherlock was nailed on for the role before that talk fizzled out. Then Ger Brennan was about to dip his toe in inter-county managerial waters until word filtered through that this too was off.

In Donegal, meanwhile, preferred candidate Malachy O'Rourke has made clear he's not going there. In another of those potential retro moves that are all the rage this autumn - in both hurling and football - 1992 hero Martin McHugh is being floated as a likely candidate, a full quarter of a century after he last managed at senior inter-county level.

Why such indifference among the potential pool of inter-county managers for these two posts? We are, after all, not talking about Division 4 stragglers, where apathy abounds and a prospective boss might have to spend much of his time bogged down in financial matters, so the team can get to and from Ruislip in modest comfort.

These are two long established occupants of the top tier. Monaghan have previously been branded the cockroaches of Division 1 football (a deep compliment, needless to say), surviving there year on year, despite a few close shaves and the great Conor McManus now hitting 35.

Perhaps the inter-county managerial community don't like the look of their trajectory. That there's a nagging sense that here are two outfits whose best days are behind them