GAELIC GAMES/ Meath managerial crisis: Eamonn Barry is to continue as manager of the Meath footballers. The week-long controversy ended last night in Navan when it was revealed an accommodation had been reached between the county executive and Barry.

A statement released last night on behalf of the county board and Barry reiterated the manager's regret at what he accepted was an error of judgment in relation to the appointment of backroom personnel. It also detailed a nine-point set of conditions under which Barry and the county executive would proceed in future.

These conditions include acceptance that backroom appointments must be approved in advance and that neither Dessie Rogers nor Barry's brother Martin would be among such appointments.

Expenditure on the county senior team must also be approved on the basis of monthly plans to be submitted by Barry.

As a result of this agreement, the executive motion to remove the manager from his post after only three months was not put to last night's scheduled county board meeting.

The executive met at seven o'clock, before the board meeting, and it was announced that an agreement had been reached following five hours of discussions. The agreement was signed by county secretary Barney Allen, county chairman Fintan Ginnity and Barry. It was witnessed by solicitor Liam Keane, who is secretary of the GAA's Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA).

At the executive meeting, the county management committee accepted the agreement after which the manager shook hands with Ginnity.

There will be relief in the county at the outcome, as the controversy had shaken the GAA in Meath at a time when the senior football team are facing into a period of major rebuilding.

Delegates attending the county board meeting in the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan passed protesters carrying placards in support of Barry, but the feeling within the county had been that if the recommendation had gone to the floor of the meeting, the manager would have lost - on the basis that the executive wouldn't have pursued the matter unless certain of winning.

In the end peace broke out, and the need for an almost certainly rancorous debate was avoided.

The issue flared up a week ago when Barry protested publicly against the county board's refusal to countenance Rogers's appointment as team physiotherapist - or that of Barry's brother Martin - to the backroom team. This was primarily based on the lengthy suspension served by both men after an altercation with Ginnity and the consequent High Court case taken by the men in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn the ban.

Not only did the executive refuse to back Barry's choice, but, in a shock development last week, recommended his removal as manager, even though Rogers had ruled himself out of contention.

Although Barry apologised for his role in the controversy on LMFM, there was no apparent thaw in the executive's position, an attitude that reportedly hardened after the manager repeated charges of "dictatorship" against Ginnity in last Friday's The Irish Times. But otherwise, Barry emphasised he wasn't going to bear grudges and wanted to heal the rift.

Speculation at the weekend that peace talks had taken place after Saturday evening's challenge match between Meath and Longford was unfounded. Ginnity had left the pitch opening quickly to attend a club dinner. Whereas Barry was seen talking to county secretary Barney Allen on the team bus, there was apparently just general conversation and no discussion of the managerial situation.

There had been rumours of an accommodation throughout yesterday, with Barry waiting to hear from the county officers, but nothing emerged until the evening.

The truce marks the end of a difficult episode for Meath football. Only months after Seán Boylan called a halt to a 23-year era of unparalleled success for the county team, the events of the past week have driven home to many Meath people how far the county's stock had fallen.

"I think for a lot of people the worst thing is how public the whole thing has been," according to one club activist. "We never had to suffer this sort of thing before. It was what happened in other counties.

"There is probably a feeling that Eamonn Barry showed poor judgment in trying to make the appointments he did, but, at the same time, I think most clubs would want him to stay on, because trying to find a replacement would be a disaster."

Barry had created a good impression among the clubs by dividing the county into four regions - north, south, east and west - and conducting exhaustive trials with a view to introducing new faces.