A decision on the future of Cork hurling manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy could be made before the weekend. County Board secretary Frank Murphy will return from holiday later this week and Barry-Murphy will meet him as soon as is practicable.

"It's still all a bit up in the air at the moment," said Barry-Murphy yesterday. "And I can't really comment on the what will happen until after that meeting."

There has been a question mark over his commitment for another year since Cork lost their All-Ireland title to Offaly in the semi-final last August.

He is halfway through his latest two-year term and, although there is no pending review of his situation, the hurling selection committee will meet later this month with the executive committee of the county board to finalise the exact make-up of the management team for the next 12 months.

According to the county rules, Barry-Murphy can have a maximum of four co-selectors and one of those must be nominated by Newtownshandrum, the current county champions.

As a result, if he carries on he will have to drop one of the current selectors - either Tom Cashman, John Crowley, Bertie Og Murphy or Fred Sheehy.

A similar situation arose last year when he was forced to lose Sean O'Leary, one of the key elements in the successful All-Ireland campaign that summer.

It remains to be seen whether or not that situation will have a bearing on Barry-Murphy's decision on whether to stay on for another season. Already he has spent five years in charge of the senior team, but his involvement with the county management actually goes back to 1993 when his spell with the minor team is included.

Meanwhile, the search for a new Tipperary football manager appears to be reaching an end.

According to county secretary Michael O'Brien, the sub-committee set up to find a successor to Colm O'Flaherty has identified a strong candidate and his name will now be put forward for approval by the county board when they meet next Tuesday.

"It has been a long process, but I'm confident that the new manager will be approved next week," said O'Brien. Approaches had been made to 19 candidates in the months since O'Flaherty vacated the position following the defeat to Clare in the opening championship match last June.

Tipperary are the only county without a football manager at the moment, the impact of which was highlighted by the county's poor National League opener last weekend when they fell to Kildare by 15 points.

O'Flaherty had been in charge for two years and before that the county was managed by former Laois player Colm Browne - who is now in charge of his native county.