Tipperary hurling selector set to double job after taking manager job at Kilcormac Killoughey

Tipperary senior hurling selector Declan Laffan will be on the club circuit this year after taking on the managerial role for Offaly club Kilcormac Killoughey for the upcoming season.

The Offaly champions from last year have gone a bit to the left field with their appointment but have secured a man with a sufficiently big enough pedigree to alleviate the mounting local pressure.

Laffan has been a selector with Tipperary senior hurlers under Liam Cahill for the past two years, as negotiations with Kilcormac Killoughey and Laffan concluded over the weekend with players informed of the decision on Sunday evening.

He has guided his native club to several titles at various levels and was their manager when they won a famous Tipperary Senior Hurling and Football Championship double in 2013. 

They were the first club to achieve the double and it was a serious achievement for Laffan, who spent almost ten years there as joint hurling and football manager.

After that, he managed Laois club Clough Ballacolla for a few years, leading them to three senior hurling titles in a row from 2020 to 2022. They reached the Leinster club final in 2021, where they lost to Kilkenny's Ballyhale Shamrocks. He only stepped down with Clough Ballacolla after being becoming a Tipp selector in 2022.

Another Tipperary man Tony Gleeson from Burgess was a coach for the last two years under outgoing manager Shane Hand.

Also a coach with Offaly U20 hurlers as they won the 2024 All-Ireland, it will be interesting to see if he will be back on board with the new manager. The full package is likely to be unveiled in the coming weeks.