In spite of a poor run of form, the timing of the decision by Davy Nelson and his management team to step away from their roles with the Meath ladies senior football team was a shock to some, with former Donegal star Nadine Doherty wondering if the county could now turn to former manager Eamonn Murray.
Nelson, who succeeded back-to-back All-Ireland-winning Murray in the post late last year, has presided over a patchy campaign thus far with just one league win in seven and a Leinster final loss to Dublin.
Meath begin their quest for a hat-trick of All-Ireland crowns against Waterford on 25 June.
Speaking on 2fm's Game On, the news of Nelson's departure did not come as a major shock to Doherty.
"It's very rare for a manager to step away mid-season but it's not a surprise given the results and the current form of the team," she said.
"We saw earlier this year what happened in Donegal with the men's team, Paddy Carr steeped away a few weeks before the Ulster championship. It seemed that the players played a part in his departure.
"In this case I'd be a bit surprised that conversations with an alternative management haven't already taken place informally. It's rare for a whole management team to step away mid-season without an alternative."
And while Doherty accepted that Nelson did try to put things right during his eight-month reign, Meath's lack of energy was all too apparent in their displays.
"The short time that he was there and in the spotlight he always seemed to be a positive guy, was very honest in interviews and wasn't afriad to highlight where things have gone wrong.
"He put a positive spin on how Meath could make it right but his time had run out. In terms of the exact reasons we might find out in the next week or two. You look at the results: one win out of seven in the league and one win in Leinster. That's probably not good enough, really, coming off the back of two All-Irelands.
"Meath didn't seem to have the same energy and we know from being involved in teams the energy of a team says a lot about what's happening off the pitch. There was a bit of negative body language and you have a lot of high-profile players not playing well. There are reasons behind that, we don't know why, but the Meath ladies do.
"Tactically, he admitted freely at the start of the season, and I think rightly so, he wasn't going to go in and make huge changes to a system that was working. Defensively, they remain very good, but again we've spoken about it a lot, they aren't scoring enough."
While not hearing any rumours as to who is in the frame to now take the Meath post, Doherty added: "I really wouldn't be surprised if Eamonn Murray made a comeback to be honest".
If it did come to pass, she did single out the need for a strong management ticket to be in place.
"He [Murray] had the magic touch with them for those few years. When he took over five or six years ago they were absolute rock bottom. They are fairly low at the minute. He has a very good relationship with those players and doews bring an excellent backroom team.
"Obviously he doesn't have Eugene Ivers [strength and conditioning] and Paul Garrigan available. That was a huge loss for Meath, even more so than Eamonn as manager.
"I just think that coaching team, their departure, was a massive loss. Even if Eamonn does come back, he is going to have to bring very, very strong coaches with him to ge team back to where they were.
"Time is against them at this stage, they are out on 25 June against Waterford and then face a resurgent Donegal the following week."
