LAST UPDATE | 6 Jan

The 42

A GROUNDSWELL OF protest from club members has led Naas GAA to reconsider a decision to appoint Rory Gallagher to the management team of their senior football panel, The 42 understands.

The Kildare club were poised over the weekend to appoint the former Derry manager to their management team, yet by lunchtime today they had reconsidered.

The 42 understands that GAA President Jarlath Burns had expressed concern via email to the Naas club, while in addition “an extraordinary volume” of emails had been sent to the club secretary from the membership of the four-in-a-row Kildare county senior football champions.

In May 2023, Gallagher stepped down as Derry manager in the wake of domestic abuse allegations made by his estranged wife, Nicola Gallagher. The Police Service of Northern Ireland investigated the allegations, and forwarded two files to Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service in 2022, but no charges were brought.

Prior to Paddy Tally’s appointment in Derry last November, Gallagher was linked with a high-profile return to the job, and said through his solicitor that he “fully intends to return to inter-county management in the near future”.

“At all stages of this process, our client has firmly and steadfastly denied his guilt and refuted all the allegations levelled against him,” Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law said at the time.

In a statement issued to the Irish Times yesterday, Naas GAA confirmed Gallagher’s appointment.

“Joe Murphy has been reappointed into the role of Naas senior football manager for 2025.

“Joe has confirmed that his management team will consist of Rory Gallagher, Pádraic Cribben, Kevin Martin, Martin Sweeney and Fionn Higgins.”

Yet it is now expected that Naas GAA will not ratify Gallagher’s appointment at a meeting of the club executive, which is due to take place tonight, and is where the appointment would have been made official.

Written by The 42 and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.