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Best 5 GAA County Managers In Your Time

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Tomsmith here I ask you to name the best 5 County Gaa managers in your time of watching Gaa matchs . Present day managers can be included even if the dont mange ones own County My six are as follows No1 John Kiely Limerick No2 Michael Harte Tyrone No 3 John Maughan Mayo No4 Martin Mc Hugh Cavan Manager No 5 Jack o Connor Kerry manager Kevin Heffernan , Malachy o Rourke, James Mc Guinness did not make my selection cut Put your expert opinion down tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4150 - 20/02/2026 09:29:42 2657404 Link
Replying To tomsmith: "Tomsmith here I ask you to name the best 5 County Gaa managers in your time of watching Gaa matchs . Present day managers can be included even if the dont mange ones own County My six are as follows No1 John Kiely Limerick No2 Michael Harte Tyrone No 3 John Maughan Mayo No4 Martin Mc Hugh Cavan Manager No 5 Jack o Connor Kerry manager Kevin Heffernan , Malachy o Rourke, James Mc Guinness did not make my selection cut Put your expert opinion down" Mick O'Dwyer Mickey Harte Brian Cody John Kiely Liam Griffin In no particular order. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18663 - 20/02/2026 09:59:54 2657409 Link
Martin McDermott -Roscommon moros (Roscommon) - Posts: 1288 - 20/02/2026 10:04:00 2657413 Link
Mick O'Dwyer Brian Cody Jim Gavin Sean Boylan Cyril Farrell GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8460 - 20/02/2026 10:48:01 2657426 Link
1. Jim Gavin 2. Mick O'Dwyer 3. Paidi 4. Jack O'Connor 5.Mickey Harte Honorable mentions to Jim McGuiness, Davy Burke, John O'Mahoney, Mikey Moran, Billy Morgan sourmilk93 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1276 - 20/02/2026 11:21:58 2657435 Link
Replying To Viking66: "Mick O'Dwyer Mickey Harte Brian Cody John Kiely Liam Griffin In no particular order." Jack oconnor gets in in my opinion for recird at evddy level with kerry i have in over grigvin or kiely Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1216 - 20/02/2026 11:24:04 2657436 Link
Replying To GreenandRed: "Mick O'Dwyer Brian Cody Jim Gavin Sean Boylan Cyril Farrell" Goid list jack oconor to me gets in on that list but some it is sjubhective when throwing hurling and footbalk together Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1216 - 20/02/2026 11:24:54 2657437 Link
Mick o dywer Cody Jack O'Connor or jim gavin Jim gavin or jack . Sean boylan Gaaforlife2023 (Longford) - Posts: 1216 - 20/02/2026 11:26:38 2657439 Link
I'd have Ger Loughnane in my list. WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2732 - 20/02/2026 12:01:32 2657448 Link
Replying To Gaaforlife2023: "Goid list jack oconor to me gets in on that list but some it is sjubhective when throwing hurling and footbalk together" Fair point. If it was just football it'd be: Mick O'Dwyer Jim Gavin Sean Boylan Mickey Harte Jimmy McGuinness. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8460 - 20/02/2026 12:11:49 2657453 Link
Micko Jim Gavin Ger Loughnane Brian Cody John O'Mahony (for obvious reasons) Bonus managers, Sean Boylan, Joe Kernan Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 1860 - 20/02/2026 13:57:11 2657478 Link
Replying To GreenandRed: "Fair point. If it was just football it'd be: Mick O'Dwyer Jim Gavin Sean Boylan Mickey Harte Jimmy McGuinness." These would be my 5 also. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2121 - 20/02/2026 14:40:30 2657492 Link
Replying To Gaaforlife2023: "Jack oconnor gets in in my opinion for recird at evddy level with kerry i have in over grigvin or kiely" Kiely led his to victory in 14 Finals in a row. Unequaled Hu we Oldtourman (Limerick) - Posts: 4539 - 20/02/2026 15:39:50 2657501 Link
Replying To Gaaforlife2023: "Jack oconnor gets in in my opinion for recird at evddy level with kerry i have in over grigvin or kiely" Definitely over Griffin but what kiely done with Limerick, a county with a history of failure means he has to be in . Kerry will always win all irelands no matter who the manager is. richiepmurphy (Kilkenny) - Posts: 57 - 20/02/2026 16:00:17 2657506 Link
PJ Carroll Leitrim was a good manager too. moros (Roscommon) - Posts: 1288 - 20/02/2026 16:21:23 2657508 Link
Micko Keily Cody Loughnane Davy Fitz SouthGalway (Galway) - Posts: 228 - 20/02/2026 16:40:18 2657515 Link
Football in no particular order and my lifetime Jim Gavin Billy Morgan Sean Boylan Mickey Harte Jimmy McGuinness Apart from Jim Gavin, the other 4 had to build teams when they were not top national teams. That's why I don't have 1 or 2 Kerry in there. I'm too young for Mick O'Dwyers Kerry. Hurling Cody Cyril Farrell Kiely JBM Loughnane Special mention to Bertie O'Connor. Not an inter county manager but he changed the game, with Cork in the noughties and Kielys Limerick very much following the playing style he revolutionised. BaldyBadger (Cork) - Posts: 339 - 20/02/2026 16:41:26 2657517 Link
Replying To Gaaforlife2023: "Jack oconnor gets in in my opinion for recird at evddy level with kerry i have in over grigvin or kiely" Definitely over Griffin but what kiely done with Limerick, a county with a history of failure means he has to be in . Kerry will always win all irelands no matter who the manager is. richiepmurphy (Kilkenny) - Posts: 57 - 20/02/2026 16:50:40 2657520 Link
Replying To richiepmurphy: "Definitely over Griffin but what kiely done with Limerick, a county with a history of failure means he has to be in . Kerry will always win all irelands no matter who the manager is." micko sean boylan , brian cody . ger loughnane jim gavin mickcunningham (Westmeath) - Posts: 1937 - 20/02/2026 21:36:39 2657568 Link
Honourable mentions please to the lesser known managers thanks so much. I'm thinking of Brendan Guckian, fondly known as Benny. Thanks everyone for agreeing. bláthach (Leitrim) - Posts: 462 - 21/02/2026 11:47:24 2657614 Link