Cribbin to continue as Offaly football manager

Tom Cribbin has been reappointed as Offaly football manager for the 2010 season. Cribbin"s initial appointment was until the end of this season, but, after expressing an interest in continuing in the post following last Saturday"s narrow All-Ireland qualifier defeat to Wexford (2-11 to 0-16), his reappointment was ratified at a county board meeting earlier this week. The Clane native was appointed as Offaly manager after just two rounds of this year"s NFL, following the resignation of Richie Connor in the wake of a much publicised players" heave against him. Tom Coffey had taken the reins as interim manager for Offaly"s second NFL game, before Cribbin was installed as the county"s new football supremo. Cribbin is intent on rebuilding the Offaly team, having already begun the process in this year"s championship which saw the Faithful County suffer defeats to provincial finalists Kildare in the Leinster championship and to Wexford in the qualifiers. The former Laois manager is determined to ensure that the Offaly team receives the best possible preparation before the 2010 campaign. 'You have to look at the whole set-up - from the backroom team you can provide to the facilities you provide, the cost of training a team even in pre-season and getting them into gyms,' he said. Cribbin went on to say that he felt that a high level of physical prowess was now essential for a team to be successful. 'It"s fairly obvious if you look at what happened to Westmeath and Laois in the Leinster semi-finals. If we don"t bring ourselves up to that level, there is going to be a two-tier system in football like there is in hurling,' he added.