Last night Kieran McGeeney was unceremoniously dumped as the manager of the Kildare senior football team following six seasons at the helm. Ger, Joe and Diarmuid spoke to Kildare journalist Daragh Ó Conchúir and recently retired Kildare footballer Ronan Sweeney and got their thoughts on the whole situation.

Ronan Sweeney was shocked by the decision and said that McGeeney's character is the reason he received the backing of the entire Kildare panel and will continue to do so.

“Kieran, above anyone else that i’ve been involved with, has the characteristics of a great leader. I suppose his honesty, loyalty and respect are all genuine and players react to that. It’s all players want really. Kieran has done more than anybody in the last six years, wether it be a player, club delegate, county board member, anyone. That’s why the players respect him and have so much time for him. He wants the best for Kil;dare football and the best for each individual in the panel and that's all you can ask for.”

In the end it was the clubs that voted out the Armagh native and both Daragh and Ronan are adamant that should not have been the case.

According to Daragh: “Alot of the clubs would have come out publicly and let it be known that they were for him or against him,the big turning point was that four officers went against him. The big issue with the clubs, and they were probably stockpiling this for years, was the issue of player availability. For me thats not a new issue, it’s an issue that preceded the current manager and it’s an issue that will continue nationwide.”

Sweeney agrees that a vote like this should not have taken place: “I don’t know of a vote ever happening before for a manager. Certainly not in my time. When Micko wanted an extra year there was no problem. So why there was even a vote in the first place I’m not so sure. If a vote was the case in every situation and every year that would be fair enough. Some of the people at the meeting that had votes, [like] the hurling board, what’s that got to do with anything? Referees committee had a vote, the handball committee had a vote. Realistically are these the people that should be listened to moreso than the players that are there every evening and weekend?”

The question has been raised if McGeeney should have let his name go forward for ratification of of another year at the helm when it was clear there was strong opposition to him being retained. But Ó Conchúir believes that player loyalty is what kept him in the race despite such well-known opposition.

“The whispers have been there for a couple of weeks. Where some of these names are coming out of I have no idea. As far as the county chairman is concernced he was certainly very much in favour of retaining Kieran but of course not even the entire executive was united on that front. There had clearly been lobbying going on for a couple of weeks, everybody knows that, and Kieran McGeeney was aware of it himself but I guess he knew he was probably walking into a bit of an ambush but what I think decided it for him was the players coming out and publicly backing him.”

You can listen to the full discussion here: