DCU Professor linked strongly to Roscommon football job

PROFESSOR Niall Moyna has emerged as the new favourite to be the next Roscommon senior football manager. Roscommon are presently looking for a replacement for Des Newton, and speculation this week suggests the Rossies could confirm a new manager next week. Moyna - who was involved with Dublin in an advisory capacity for the last four years - appears to have emerged as the frontrunner, though the likes of former Offaly manager Gerry Fahey and Jason Ryan have also been mentioned of late. Moyna is the head of DCU's Department of Health and Human Performance, and has worked with several Roscommon players, including Cathal Cregg and Donie Shine, at third level in recent years. DCU has won two of the last three Sigerson Cup titles, adding to their only previous title claimed in 2006. In fact, Westmeath star Kieran Gavin captained this year's Sigerson-winning team. Moyna was manager of the Irish U17 International Rules team that toured Australia in 2006. In recent years, he has managed the DCU senior football team to three Sigerson Cups, two O'Byrne Cups, and the Ryan Cup. In addition, he was a selector on the St Vincent's team that won the All-Ireland Club SFC in 2008, and has been part of the Dublin senior football backroom team that has won three Leinster SFC's, and the All-Ireland title in 2011. As part of RTE's Operation Transformation 2012 programme, Prof Moyna ran a challenge to a fifth-year class at Athlone Community College - to pass a 'Bleep Test' (a 20m shuttle-run test used to determine cardiovascular fitness). Des Newton left the Roscommon job in September, after they lost to Galway in the Connacht Championship, before bouncing back to defeat Armagh in the Qualifiers, and then making their exit at the hands of Tyrone.