Crokes boss Brennan favourite to replace O’Rourke in Meath hot seat
The 2023 All-Ireland-winning club football manager Robbie Brennan has emerged as an early favourite to succeed Colm O’Rourke as Meath manager.
Even though Brennan is currently immersed in Crokes’ defence of their Dublin and Leinster titles, he is still the candidate being most talked about in the wake of O’Rourke’s weekend decision to bring his term to an end after just two years.
O’Rourke still had a year to run on a three-year term but was subject to a review that was due to be the focus of a Meath management committee meeting last night.
The Meath management committee is understood to have wanted the structure and identity of a new backroom team to be in place by last night’s meeting before they continued with a recommendation to the clubs.
But O’Rourke wanted more time to complete his work and has suggested he had two additional coaches lined up but was not in a position to put them forward at this stage because they were still involved in club championship campaigns.
Part of the review process involved a survey of the outgoing squad which granted anonym-* ity, a point that did not sit easily with O’Rourke.
Brennan, who has been in charge of Crokes since 2018, has strong Meath connections, having lived in Dunboyne for years, where he played with and managed the local club.
The county’s 2021 All-Ireland-winning minor manager Cathal Ó Bric, manager of the Leinster U-20-winning team earlier this year, could be another candidate but may elect to remain as U-20 manager in 2025.
Meanwhile, the former Antrim managerandTipperarygoalkeeper Darren Gleeson is set to be the next Laois hurling manager.