Doherty selected in Donegal drama

Doherty (left) was a selector during Mickey Moran's reign as manager

John Joe Doherty has been offered the Donegal manager's job after a dramatic selection meeting on Wednesday night.

It was expected that Charlie Mulgrew and Declan Bonner would be confirmed as joint managers after first-choice Doherty turned down the post.

But Doherty appeared at the meeting and after an impassioned speech the Donegal delegates offered him the job again.

Karl Lacey, who has criticised the county board, has quit the county panel and is going to Australia for a year.

The player has slammed the board's handling of team and management affairs.

Doherty, who played in Donegal's All-Ireland winning team of 1992, will meet county officials later this week to discuss personal terms.

County chairman Sean Kelly said earlier this week that the Glencolmcille man was the first choice to succeed Brian McIver, but refused to comment on why the offer was withdrawn.

The job was then offered to Mulgrew and Bonner, who accepted it on a joint ticket.

At the meeting Doherty said he had been "tried, convicted and left to sit in silence".

"I felt like a runner who had fallen and dropped the baton and then my former team-mates (Mulgrew and Bonner) picked it up and ran with it without asking me what happened."