DERRY will not appoint Mickey Harte’s replacement until at least the end of July.
Following a county executive meeting last night, the Oak Leaf county has opened its process to find a new manager by inviting clubs to make nominations for the job.
They will have until July 25, two weeks from now, to put forward any potential candidates.
Harte vacated the post on Monday after a single season in charge having won the National League Division One title and the McKenna Cup before the championship campaign collapsed on itself.
Defeats by Donegal, Galway and Armagh left them floundering and although they recovered to fight off Mayo in a penalty shootout in Castlebar, they exited tamely at the hands of Kerry in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
Speculation was rampant throughout Derry all weekend that Harte would resign and the announcement came early afternoon on Monday.
The conversation since then has been around whether Derry will seek to reappoint Rory Gallagher, who stepped down last summer following allegations made by his ex-wife Nicola.
The option of reappointing him was explored last year after their exit at the hands of Kerry but Ulster GAA’s decision to debar Gallagher from the association “without prejudice” led to Derry moving on and appointing Harte soon after.
That barring order was lifted by the DRA in February this year and Gallagher is free to coach again.
Malachy O’Rourke’s name continues to be mentioned in dispatches.
He has been eternally linked to the Derry job on numerous occasions going back to when he was in The Loup more than 20 years ago.
Speaking earlier this year on the GAA Social podcast, Conor Glass revealed he had sounded O’Rourke out about taking over last summer.
It’s understood that Derry made an official approach around the time of Gallagher’s debarment, by which stage the Derry club championship was well underway.
O’Rourke would go on to guide Glen to the All-Ireland club title, a remarkable achievement for a club that only won their first ever county title under him in 2021.
He remains in situ with the three-in-a-row Derry champions and it’s considered to be unlikely that he will be interested in succeeding his Ballygawley neighbour Harte.
Options outside of that appear limited.
One bookmaker made Ciaran Meenagh their instant third favourite behind Gallagher and O’Rourke but having been involved with Derry since joining up with Damian McErlain’s setup in 2019, Meenagh turned the role down last year and joined up with Conor Laverty’s backroom in Down, helping them reach this weekend’s Tailteann Cup final against Laois.
Johnny McBride was nominated for the job in 2019 but withdrew before interview when it became apparent that Gallagher would be appointed.
Speaking last summer, the former Derry captain who has managed his native Loup and Errigal Ciaran, but hasn’t been involved in coaching for a few years, questioned whether it was possible to do it while holding down a full-time job.
As part owner of an electrical goods company, McBride said that “it’s become impossible…basically unless I had a part-time role at work, there’s no way you could do that.”
The cut-off date of July 25 for nominations indicates there will be no major developments for at least the next two weeks.