Bobbie O'Dwyer steps down as Cork U20 football manager

CORK U20 football manager Bobbie O’Dwyer will not be seeking another term as boss. The Urhan native completed his two year term and he has now decided to move on.

The Beara man was the obvious choice for the U20 manager's job at the end of 2021 following Keith Ricken’s jump up to the senior role. O’Dwyer’s managerial CV was a significant factor in him landing the U20 job having coached a long list of clubs including Macroom, O’Donovan Rossa and Killarney Legion. Having done great work with a number of underage Cork development teams, O’Dwyer got the Cork minor gig where he stayed for three seasons (2018-2020) with the All-Ireland triumph in 2019 the obvious highlight.

O’Dwyer left his post at the end of the 2020 season where he then joined Ronan McCarthy’s Cork senior football management team. 2021 was a difficult season for the Leesiders with the heavy defeat to Kerry in the Munster final the last match of McCarthy’s four year tenure as bainisteoir.

O’Dwyer took time to reflect on his position over the past couple of months following the Munster U20 final defeat to Kerry at the end of April and he has now decided that he won't be going forward for another term. It was a very disappointing evening for the Rebels in the provincial decider down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Kerry scored two goals inside the first four minutes as they won comfortably on a score line of 2-12 to 1-6. Cork came into that game in high spirits following the 2-14 to 0-6 semi-final victory over Limerick down in the Páirc the week before but they just couldn’t get going against the old rivals.

The two seasons under O’Dwyer’s tutelage were very similar. Last year saw Cork win by 16 points in the semi-final against Limerick played in Ballyagran in Limerick before Kerry proved too strong, winning 1-11 to 0-7 in the Munster final in Austin Stack Park, Tralee. While O’Dwyer leaves his post without any silverware, that doesn’t paint the full picture in what was a challenging two years. 

Injuries are part and parcel of the game but it most certainly hit the U20 side very hard over the two campaigns. Take this season for example, Cork were missing eight players for their championship season due to injuries, with seven of those players forwards. Colin Walsh would have been a key figure but the Kanturk player focused on the small ball.

Cork’s last Munster crown at this grade was in 2021, while 2019 is the last time the Rebels tasted All-Ireland glory.

O’Dwyer has had many coaching offers from clubs since the Cork U20 footballers were knocked out but the time just wasn’t right. The expectation is that O’Dwyer will revisit it at the end of the year. O’Dwyer is currently helping out with his native Urhan as they try and make an impression in the new Bon Secours Hospital Premier Junior football grade.

It’s expected that the Cork County Board will announce the process for finding a new U20 football manager shortly.