Paul Grimley is expected to be named as Armagh's new football manager in the coming days.

The Irish News is reporting that the outgoing assistant manager is poised to replace Paddy O'Rourke, who stepped down in the wake of the Orchard County's disastrous All-Ireland SFC qualifier first round defeat to Roscommon earlier this month. It is believed that Grimley will retain the services of fellow Pearse Og clubman Brendan Hughes as a selector.

Grimley has been waiting a long time for this opportunity to come along. The former county star was assistant to Joe Kernan when Armagh won their one and only All-Ireland title at Kerry's expense in 2002. He remained part of the management team until 2006 before linking up with Donal Keoghan in Cavan the following year.

He subsequently spent two seasons (2008 and '09) with Kieran McGeeney in Kildare before taking a selector's role in Monaghan in 2010. When Seamus McEnaney left for Meath in 2011, Grimley duly followed him.

The highly-rated coach was lured back into the Armagh management set-up last September, despite being critical of the county board's interview process when he went for the manager's job in 2008.

Crossmaglen's double All-Ireland winning manager Tony McEntee has ruled himself out of contention, while another possible candidate, Kieran McGeeney, is still involved with Kildare. Tweet

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