Pat Flanagan has expressed his disappointment at not being retained as Offaly U21 football manager.

The position has yet to be filled for 2016 after last week's farce which saw Declan Kelly step down less than 24 hours after his appointment was ratified - because he hadn't agreed to take the job in the first place!

Senior manager Flanagan was keen to keep the U21s under his wing, but was informed by the county board in September that a separate manager was being sought.

"I felt I was the best placed to develop players at that level and to protect and look after them from over-training. I had proven experience of that in my previous two positions in Sligo and Westmeath and I felt I could get them to the level they should be at," he explained to the Tullamore Tribune.

The Clara man had been looking forward to working with the U21s after being hampered by his late appointment as manager, the unavailability of training facilities and the decision to stage the Offaly U21FC early this year.

"I would have relished another opportunity and to start a lot earlier. Kildare (who knocked Offaly out of this year's Leinster U21FC) are back a number of months already. This is supposed to be all about developing players. It was a surprise to me to be told I wasn't getting the U21 job.

"I started very late last year and had no facilities. I was hoping to get started much earlier this year and progress to a different level."

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