Oisin McConville opens up on 'selfish' inter-county management role

Irish Daily Mirror

23-06-2025

Oisin McConville has expressed doubts over his future in the 'selfish endeavour' of inter-county GAA management after his stint with Wicklow footballers came to an end.
The Armagh icon wrapped up a three-year spell with Wicklow as they bowed out of the Tailteann Cup at the semi-final stage, losing their lead against Limerick in what McConville termed a 'capitulation'.
Reflecting on the match, McConville told the GAA Social Podcast on BBC: "I don't think we played well first half at all but found ourselves only a point down at half time which, to be honest, was a bit of a result,".
Despite being seven points ahead, Wicklow's grip on the game slipped away, leading McConville to say, "We were in complete control, seven points up. Unfortunately, from that point we capitulated. Things construed and went against us."
Describing the aftermath, he said, "It's pure devastation. You put yourself in such a good position to win and then on top of that you just know that's the end of your season. It's not like you can repair it next week. So I literally just came straight up the road. I was home about 5.45pm.", reports Belfast Live.
McConville also shared his post-game routine: "I watched the game back. I felt that angry that I wanted to see if watching it gave me some sort of closure on it quickly in my mind. I wanted to get a few things clear in my own head about decisions and what happened during the game.
"I couldn't sleep last night. I try, in the really dreadful moments, to get through it with a lot of episodes of Only Fools and Horses. I probably watched it to 3am or 3.30am. The last episode I watched was the chain gang, the 250 gold chains. I don't feel tired or anything (this morning), I just have that sick feeling in my stomach but look, there's worse things in life, I'm sure.
"It takes a bit of getting over, the fact it's the last game of the year. I think there was just a bit more in us, just feels like finality, you know."
McConville isn't certain about continuing his role as manager and mentioned the significant impact the job has on his family life.
The journey from Armagh to Wicklow is at least a four-hour round trip for training and matches each week. Even though he has a commendable 50 percent victory rate, McConville emphasises that staying on isn't just up to him.
"Look, my term is over. That's the first thing to say. The next thing is, I understand that me being an inter-county manager is one thing. Me being an inter-county manager in Wicklow is a completely different thing because it's a pretty selfish endeavour on my part I think.
"Tha really strikes home because you miss quite a bit of what is going on with the kids and (wife) Darina. She picks up a lot of slack.
"Honestly, if I was to say I was going back to Wicklow for the next 10 years, they would back me up in the morning. That's not my decision and also, I'm going to give it a week and see if it's even a possibility from home first.
"There's obviously conversations to be had after that. I'm probably more aware than ever that my dreams, we can't follow my dreams all the time as a family. Everybody has their own individual things that they're doing there.
"That's the biggest dilemma of the whole lot, to be honest. It's a big chunk of my life but it's a big chunk of everybody else's too.
"I have to decide here, am I part of the solution here (with Wicklow) or part of the problem."