JASON SHERLOCK SAYS he held discussions with Monaghan and ‘thought seriously’ about the opportunity to replace Seamus ‘Banty’ McEneaney.

The former Dublin coach is no longer in the running for the role and admits he does not have a burning ambition to get into inter-county management.

The Monaghan position was one that interested him although he ultimately decided against pursuing it. 

“There’s a process going on so I don’t want to talk too much but I did connect with Monaghan. I had a think about things and certainly thought about things seriously.

“The process is still going on. From my perspective I think in the dealings I had with officials and players and former players, current people that are around the Monaghan GAA scene, there’s some really good people that care about Monaghan GAA which is great and really positive for them.

“I just hope that things work out for them moving forward.”

An All-Ireland winner as a player in 1995, Sherlock served as coach under Jim Gavin for Dublin’s historic five-in-a-row team and was highly influential in developing the style of play that saw them become the dominant force in the game.

While he’s not actively seeking to become a county boss, Sherlock admitted such an offer would warrant his consideration. 

“It’s definitely not an ambition,” he said at the launch of the Sport Ireland Workout What Works for You campaign.

“Like everyone, we’re all sports people, we’re all interested in various sports and I’m no different in that sense. I think when anyone reaches out to you, you’ll give it due consideration.

“No different in my case when Jim Gavin reached out to me at the end of 2014. From my perspective GAA has been very good to me and I’ve really enjoyed it. I appreciate the value that I’ve had with GAA.

“I’ll always be curious if I can enhance what I do but also if I can add value somewhere else I’ll certainly consider those things. That’s was something similar with what happened with Monaghan.”

Sherlock backed the decision to give Dessie Farrell a new two-year term in charge of Dublin. 

“I think Dessie as a Dublin GAA man has given an awful lot of service,” said Sherlock.

“I appreciate the benchmark is a lot higher in Dublin than potentially in other counties.

“You can only go on the last game the guys had and I thought they gave a superb performance that day. It could have gone either way. Obviously it was an outrageous kick that Sean O’Shea made.

v”From a performance perspective you’d hope there are better days to come for Dublin and obviously having Dessie there and the service he’s given, you can understand why the county board went that way.”