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Best 5 GAA County Managers In Your Time

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Replying To jacktheboy:  "John O Mahoney has to be up there in top five, he did it with three counties, not just one good team like the others."
Yep!

And when we gave him a few decent players he won two All Irelands an drew another one.

The_DOC (Galway) - Posts: 850 - 11/03/2026 10:43:29    2660884

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Replying To Past hurler:  "Brian Cody is out on his own with 11 All Irelands as the greatest GAA manager ever but special mention to Mick O'Dwyer, Jim Gavin and Jack O'Connor."
That's basically just a list of who has the most All-Irelands. Cody's reign especially shows the impact of having an incredible group of players. He's no doubt a brilliant manager, and it's hard to know if anyone would have won as much as he did with the same group. However, the last 7 years of his reign with no All-Ireland after many of the best players had finished up, indicates how much of a factor in the success the quality of player he had was.
O'Dwyer is another legend who had a brilliant group of players come along at the same time.
Ger Loughnane winning two All-Irelands with a county that hadn't won in over 80 years and hadn't even come close in over 60 years is every bit as much of an achievement as those above.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2884 - 11/03/2026 10:50:53    2660888

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Tomsmith here

Martin Mc Hugh the current Westmeath manager , if he stays another year must surely go down as a manager that transformed a team from being poor to Leinster finalists in one year

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4163 - 17/05/2026 13:51:42    2673524

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Replying To tomsmith:  "Tomsmith here

Martin Mc Hugh the current Westmeath manager , if he stays another year must surely go down as a manager that transformed a team from being poor to Leinster finalists in one year"
News to everyone, when did Martin Mc Hugh take over Westmeath?

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2736 - 17/05/2026 14:41:04    2673545

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Replying To BlueBeret:  "Why would anyone even think of mentioning Davy Fitz as one of the top 50 managers, never mind the top 5?
He might be one of top 5 richest managers but it's a joke to include him here."
Your emotion is overriding your logic,a common occurrence among posters on this forum.

Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 50 - 24/05/2026 18:11:28    2675095

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Replying To Seniorleague:  "Your emotion is overriding your logic,a common occurrence among posters on this forum."
Most have one username though......

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8608 - 25/05/2026 03:52:57    2675218

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Brian Cody
Mick O Dwyer
Jim Gavin
Kevin Heffernan
Mickey Harte

avonali (Dublin) - Posts: 2047 - 25/05/2026 22:34:00    2675570

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Mick o dwyer sean boylan heffo Brian Cody John kiely

mickcunningham (Westmeath) - Posts: 2003 - 26/05/2026 21:15:08    2675896

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Replying To mickcunningham:  "Mick o dwyer sean boylan heffo Brian Cody John kiely"
Tomsmith here

How could you pass Marty Mc Hugh the current WEstmeath manager or indeed his felllow County man Jimmie Mc Guinness

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4163 - 29/05/2026 00:32:50    2676382

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Not much mention of Joe Kernan on here,did fantastic work with crossmaglen and Armagh.

Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 50 - 29/05/2026 13:18:38    2676431

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "That's basically just a list of who has the most All-Irelands. Cody's reign especially shows the impact of having an incredible group of players. He's no doubt a brilliant manager, and it's hard to know if anyone would have won as much as he did with the same group. However, the last 7 years of his reign with no All-Ireland after many of the best players had finished up, indicates how much of a factor in the success the quality of player he had was.
O'Dwyer is another legend who had a brilliant group of players come along at the same time.
Ger Loughnane winning two All-Irelands with a county that hadn't won in over 80 years and hadn't even come close in over 60 years is every bit as much of an achievement as those above."
O Dwyer did very well with kildare and laois too though.

Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 50 - 29/05/2026 13:28:03    2676434

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Football

Mick O'Dwyer (because not only Kerry, but also Kildare and Laois)
John O'Mahony (because won Connacht with three different counties and also won Sam)
Jack O'Connor (because did it at all age levels and won Sam in three different installments)
Sean Boylan (because did it with two totally different Meath teams)
Eugene McGee (because did it with Offaly)

Would put Jim Gavin on the list if he came back and did it again with a new Dublin team.

Hurling

Brian Cody (obvious)
John Kiely (because Limerick had a history of failure)
Cyril Farrell (because it was Galway at that time)
Justin McCarthy (because of his innovations and where he took Waterford to)
Ger Loughnane (because it was Clare)

CARPS (Carlow) - Posts: 1117 - 29/05/2026 14:44:03    2676455

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Jack O'Connor
John Kiely
Micko O'Dwyer
Eamon Cregan
Brian Cody

hlynch12 (Limerick) - Posts: 83 - 01/06/2026 21:57:46    2677140

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Replying To CARPS:  "Football

Mick O'Dwyer (because not only Kerry, but also Kildare and Laois)
John O'Mahony (because won Connacht with three different counties and also won Sam)
Jack O'Connor (because did it at all age levels and won Sam in three different installments)
Sean Boylan (because did it with two totally different Meath teams)
Eugene McGee (because did it with Offaly)

Would put Jim Gavin on the list if he came back and did it again with a new Dublin team.

Hurling

Brian Cody (obvious)
John Kiely (because Limerick had a history of failure)
Cyril Farrell (because it was Galway at that time)
Justin McCarthy (because of his innovations and where he took Waterford to)
Ger Loughnane (because it was Clare)"
Spot on!

The_DOC (Galway) - Posts: 850 - 02/06/2026 09:32:03    2677191

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Replying To tomsmith:  "Tomsmith here

How could you pass Marty Mc Hugh the current WEstmeath manager or indeed his felllow County man Jimmie Mc Guinness"
Who is this Marty Mc Hugh boyo? And not long ago you're slating Mc Guinness and that other boyo Harte for destroying football.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2736 - 02/06/2026 11:33:13    2677249

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