There have been calls over the past few days for Tipperary manager Michael Ryan to step down from his position following his team's narrow exit from the hurling championship at the hands of Clare last weekend.
West Tipperary chairman John O’Shea has been heading calls for Ryan and his backroom team to step down, telling Tipperary Mid West Community Radio that Ryan's reign should come to an end:
I think that management team has gone past their sell-by-date and I think they should do the decent thing and resign en bloc and the sooner the better, because it isn’t so many years ago when Declan Ryan was manager after winning two Munster championships and the media in Tipperary were roaring for his resignation. Overall, there were a lot of decisions that weren’t the right ones.
But it appears that O'Shea will not get his wish with the Tipperary Star reporting that despite the Premier county's early exit from the hurling championship, manager Michael Ryan will continue in his role as Tipp manager:
The County Board executive plan to stand by Tipperary senior hurling manager Michael Ryan and his management team. On Sunday last the Premier County lost out narrowly to Clare in a thriller at Semple Stadium, Thurles. And, in the wake of Tipperary's exit from the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship the County Board, led by chairman John Devane (Boherlahan-Dualla) and secretary Tim Floyd (Newport), have revealed that the executive will back the Upperchurch man who was appointed to a three-year term in September 2017.
It’s premature, to be honest. Any decision that we make on that we will make in the cold light of day. There’s never any good decisions made immediately after a match - be it a win or a loss. The only thing we care about is a very fine bunch of players inside there in that dressing room and the biggest thing, the overall thing, is the health of Tipperary hurling and that’s the only thing that this whole programme is about.
We have been hit by a train. This was not in the plan and the test of us now is how we regroup and come back into what is now a very different hurling landscape and a landscape where all the teams are very competitive.
In his first year at the helm the Ryan guided Tipp to both the Munster Senior Hurling Championship and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship, and the Upperchurch-Drombane man had his initial two year contract extended by three years in September of 2017.
H/T: The Tipperary Star
