Ex-Louth manager Kelly shocked by Brennan's departure

Former Louth manager Colin Kelly says shock was the over-riding sentiment he felt in the wake of Ger Brennan bringing an end to his two years in charge of the county's senior footballers. A two-time former All-Ireland winner with Dublin, Brennan, confirmed his decision to step away on Tuesday at the end of a season when he had helped deliver Louth's first Leinster SFC title in 68 years. Speaking to RTÉ's Gaelic Games correspondent Marty Morrissey, Kelly offered his reaction to the development. "I suppose overall, it's shock really. It happened so suddenly," he said. "It went out on social media (on Tuesday) afternoon. All of a sudden now, you're in a situation where you've no manager, and I suppose it's deja vu really because we've been through this with Mickey Harte [leaving] a couple of years ago. "So it's probably shock when you think of Leinster champions and a couple of weeks later now, you're looking for a new manager." Brennan's decision to leave his role with Louth, two years into his three-year term, came three days after a vacancy opened up with his native Dublin following Dessie Farrell's decision to step away. However, Kelly is not convinced that Brennan is leaving to succeed Farrell. "I don't really think that the Dublin manager's job would have a part to play in it," he said. "From our point of view, we probably wouldn't have been expecting it so the process starts now to look for someone knew." As for who might step into the role as successor to Brennan, Louth could look to high-profile names from outside the county or internally, with Kelly feeling that some potential candidates from within Louth have built up strong credentials. "Fergal Reel has done a hell of a job with the U20s, got to a first All-Ireland final, the minor management team have played in a Leinster final and Gavin Devlin is now working within the county. "[Ex Sligo boss] Tony McEntee, Oisin McConville [whose term with Wicklow is up], there's a lot of guys out there now in close proximity to the Louth team and who knows at this stage. It's early days." Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast on the RTÉ Radio Player, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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