John Owens steps down after 3 years as Deise Boss

After three years in the helm, John Owens has decided to stand down as Manager of the Waterford Senior Football team.

He has become the fourth manager to stand down this summer following his sides exit from the championship. Armagh’s Paddy O’Rourke, Carlow’s Luke Dempsey and Monaghan’s Eamonn McEneaney have also stood down in recent weeks.

The County Down native took over Waterford in 2010 and immediately tasted success with the Déise County leading them out of Division four of the National League, and taking them to a rear appearance for the Waterford footballers at G.A.A. head quarters after a number of near misses under his predecessor John Kiely.  

His last game in charge of Waterford was for the recent All-Ireland Qualifier in Aughrim where Waterford conceded a late point which gave the home side the chance to take the game to extra time where Waterford eventually lost out on a 1-17 to 0-15 scoreline.

Earlier this year in the Munster Championship despite a good first half against Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds, the visitors in the second thirty-five minutes had to play second fiddle to the home side who ran out 2-12 to 0-7 scoreline.

In his first season in charge, John Owens lead Waterford out of Division four of the National league and played Limerick in the league final in Croke Park but on the night narrowly lost out on a 1-16 to 1-14 scoreline.

His first season in charge also saw Waterford record a win over Clare in the opening round of the Munster Championship and in the semi final despite playing much of the game with 14 men after Tommy Prendergast was controversially sent off, Waterford narrowly lost out. In the Qualifiers, Offaly beat Waterford in the Déise sides first game in the competition.

In his second term in charge, playing in Division three of the National League, Waterford were relegated despite playing some very good football and maybe with a bit of lady luck could have been challenging for promotion rather than fight for relegation.

In the Munster Championship, Waterford suffered a heavy defeat to Cork in the Munster Semi final and in the qualifiers travelled to Ruislip to play a fancied London in the second round of the qualifiers and came home with a first ever victory in the qualifiers. Limerick provided the opposition in the third round of the qualifiers and again the Treaty-men proved a bogie side for John Owens men in a major game.

Playing back in Division four of the National League in 2012, Waterford were expected to challenge but when it was required most Lady Luck was to evade Waterford, and were out of contention for a promotion place before the last round of games were played.

With Waterford now about to commence a search for a new manager, one name that is bound to come up in a number of conversations is that of former Waterford footballer Jason Ryan.

The De La Salle Club man has been with the Wexford Footballers in recent years and has tasted success with the model county.

Following their exit from the Championship recently he was non committal on his future with the “Yellow-Bellies” and now that a vacancy has arisen in Waterford it can be expected that his name will be mentioned on more than one occasion.