Ger Cunningham leading contender to take charge of St Finbarr's hurlers

GER Cunningham remains the favourite to return to the St Finbarr’s senior hurling manager’s role.

The Barrs hurling AGM takes place next Wednesday, January 19, at which an appointment will be ratified, but it is not thought that there are any other names in contention to succeed Ronan Curran.

Cunningham, who stepped down as Cork hurling coach at the end of October, was previously in charge of the Barrs in the mid-2000s and also has managerial experience with Ballygunner – whom he led to the Waterford SHC in 2009 – UCC and Dublin.

His sons Sam and Ben, an All-Ireland winner with Cork at U20 level, both play for the Blues.

There is also a vacancy in Blackrock, where county winner Fergal Ryan has departed, while in Glen Rovers, Mark Kennefick has stepped up from the minor job to replace Ian Lynam.

Elsewhere, Bryan Sweeney and Dave Colbert, who led Fr O’Neills to the 2018 county Premier IHC before going on to claim Munster and All-Ireland honours, have been re-appointed as joint managers.

The East Cork side have reached the last two Co-op SuperStores Cork Senior A Hurling Championship finals, losing to Charleville and Kanturk respectively. Sweeney and Colbert were in charge in 2020 before being succeeded by a management team led by Robbie Dalton with Seán Prendergast continuing as coach.

Now, with the previous duo back on the line, Niall O’Halloran has been recruited as coach with Billy Murphy and Bob Murphy acting as selectors. O’Halloran previously guided Bandon to the 2016 county PIHC before helping Éire Óg to win the IAHC in 2020.