Ignore the "sure anyone would win an all ireland with them players" syndrome that kerry managers have to deal with.
Eamonn Fitz is my man.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 28/04/2015 16:10:55    1718573

I wouldn't get too excited about John Evans yet. He won a div 2 title with a county that has one 4 of the last 6 Connaught U21 titles (the two that they didn't win went to the eventual all ireland champs). Roscommon have the best underage set up in the country per head of population (alongside Cavan). They have flopped repeatedly in the senior championship over the past few years. If they don't do something this year he could get the chop like he did in Tipperary.

Best manager currently is Fitzmaurice, then O Rourke, then Gavin. Gavin will have to win two in a row with the squad he has to be considered top dog.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1125 - 28/04/2015 16:20:56    1718583

You can't really rate managers like you can teams. It's all relative as teams are different standards.
Some managers who can do wonders with the weaker teams may well flop with a bigger team and vice versa. With better teams there are generally more egos and pressures to win silverware which requires a totally different skillset to manage than weaker teams. Weaker teams need confidence which some managers are great at instilling.
Gavin and Fitzmaurice are both excellent but they do have extremely strong panels to pick from.
Malachy O Rourke, Pat Flanagan and John Evans have done magnificently improving teams they have been involved with.
Mickey Harte has been one of the best ever, but should have left a couple of years ago.
Have great respect for McGuinness and where he took that Donegal team from where he started out with them.
Don't get the McGeeney love-in at all.
Thought Pat Gilroy was excellent.

Plasticman (Dublin) - Posts: 26 - 28/04/2015 16:40:54    1718601

Greenwood if/when there is ever another committee set up to find a new manager, i don't want ANY of the ones that were on the last one within a asses roar of it. They made a balls up , and have never been called to explain there decision. No logical person could have gone with the set up when you had a blatantly better qualified option.
But we are where we are, lets remain behind current set up 100%

royaldunne (Meath) - Posts: 19449 - 28/04/2015 17:20:07    1718632

John Evans has taken a train that has been in motion for a while now - minor, under 21 successful teams over the last number of years.

Its too early to say if he's one of the great managers out there at the moment - He needs to deliver big in this years Championship to be considered with the best. That will show his worth with this talented bunch of players. I wish him the best - I think he can do it. Would be great to see the Ross winning Connacht and pushing in the knockout stages

Ban (Westmeath) - Posts: 1415 - 28/04/2015 17:58:35    1718648

has to be James Horan :P even though he never won nout !!! oh yea he isn't a manager any more

sxckev (Mayo) - Posts: 211 - 28/04/2015 19:31:23    1718678

Cant understand the Mc Geeney thing. Kerry manager is tops followed by Dublin manager and then Malachy O Rourke at the minute. going back Mickie Harte was tops but sadly he has lost his winning ways, Jim Mc Guinneas was great too,

border Gael (Monaghan) - Posts: 894 - 28/04/2015 21:25:38    1718745

Honourable mention for Rory Gallagher, not easy keep that ship afloat after the death in the family and they way his charges took us 'unbeatable' Dubs apart last Autumn!!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8596 - 28/04/2015 21:30:39    1718749

Flopped repeatedly? No we lost to good Mayo sides that were expected to win and even the Armagh side that beat us last July got within one point of Donegal who were very close to winning another AI.

As for the topic of the thread it would be O Rourke Monaghan for me as he took them from div 3 in 2013 to a div 1 semi final this year and are probably regarded as top 6 now.

ispeakwisdom (Roscommon) - Posts: 2487 - 28/04/2015 21:33:32    1718753

Jim Gavin

Involved in 3 All Ireland U21 winning teams

Managing two of them and bringing through a large batch of the current team

Winning All Ireland less than a year into Job with a load of young lads and a team setup completely different to Gilroy's Dublin

Again less than a year in charge and wins a TREBLE

3 League titles on the bounce

2 Leinster Championships

In a team that he's had a massive amount of influence over

He got it wrong last year but he's learned from it

Dublin had the best defensive record in NFL Div 1 in 2015

He's a superb manager

But Fitzmaurice deserves it for being the current AI Champ winning manager

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 29/04/2015 16:49:19    1719017

Eamonn Fitzmaurice for certain now that McGuinness and Horan have stepped away. They both had their flaws but Donegal and Mayo were laughing stocks pre-2011 and contested the Final in 2012.

Jim Gavin is good but tbh that Dublin team would be close to an All Ireland every year with even a half-decent manager. Thought Gilroy was a bit shrewder.

Honourable mention for our own (adopted Corkman) Peter Creedon.

John Evans would be up there based on League success but Ros need a big championship to solidify his claims.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 29/04/2015 17:14:42    1719021

Rory Gallagher ;-)

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9154 - 29/04/2015 17:26:35    1719029

Its Jim Gavin and Fitzmaurice are the two most popular here! Question is how would they both do with lets say Kildare and Galway?
Also apologies to all Tyrone fans for leaving out Harte, for some reason you end up forgetting he is still there....probably one of the greatest ever

sportsfan14 (USA) - Posts: 281 - 29/04/2015 17:34:08    1719032

John Evans by a mile starting with his stint with Tipperary, the rest is self explanatory, yes John Evans.

Cuhullain (Kildare) - Posts: 271 - 29/04/2015 19:43:46    1719074

Eamon Fitz, he won an AllIreland in his 1st year and beat Donegal are their own game, he is the reigning unbeaten champion manager, followed by John Evans and then Jim Gavin but that is mostly due to the large pool of quality players he can choose from

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 29/04/2015 21:45:27    1719098

Jason Ryan

Said he'd get us out of division 2 and did, after only one year!

St.Conleth (Kildare) - Posts: 1700 - 30/04/2015 20:30:40    1719344