From the Irish News

O’Rourke is arguably a better manager than he was in 2003 and yet it was in his first year he came closest to winning some silverware.

The following three seasons, the Mournemen didn’t get a sniff of success at senior level. As manager, O’Rourke shoulders the bulk of the blame.

His error margin was simply too great during his reign, while good fortune rarely shone on him.

On June 4 in Ballybofey, O’Rourke was crucified when he substituted free-taker Liam Doyle in the dying minutes, leaving Daniel Hughes the task of trying to draw Down level from a placed ball.

Had Hughes found the narrow space between the posts with his right boot, O’Rourke and Down’s fate in 2006 might have been different.

The point is that every manager needs luck to succeed. He also needs enough good players.

You can talk about tactics until you’re blue in the face, but players win and sometimes lose you games.

Clearly, O’Rourke had his tactical shortcomings, but the manager-bashers around the Mournes also have to remember that the current county team does not possess the defensive talent to compete with the Armaghs, Kerrys and Tyrones of this world. Put simply, too much blame was laid at O’Rourke’s door.

Take Benny Coulter out of the Down equation and Down are below average. With Coulter, they are just about average. Average teams rarely win anything.

Dan Gordon is merely an emerging talent who goes missing too often in games and is not the finished article. Ambrose Rodgers is still learning his trade; John Clarke has not yet grown into the centre half-back role.

There are many less flattering critiques of many of this Down panel. And never before has an All-Ireland minor winning team been built up so much than the class of ’99.

A lot of Down fans thought senior success was just around the corner.

A lot of Down fans need to get real. What the county really needs is someone who can turn water into wine.

O’Rourke was by no means a miracle-worker – but still he was given four years to deliver something tangible and he couldn’t.

The Burren man undoubtedly made a positive impression on many of his young players, but he needed to be more than just a trusted mentor. O’Rourke needed results.

His perceived tactical weaknesses were merely accentuated by the lack of real talent within his team.

In a better team, those deficiencies would have been less evident.

In fact, some of the media have fallen into the trap of over-playing a manager’s role when a team is successful and apply the same logic when a team fails.

Lesser managers with better players have been carried shoulder-high in recent history.

Still in all, O’Rourke should have read the consensus for change in the county and stepped down after his side lost to Sligo in the

All-Ireland Qualifiers.

His results as manager simply weren’t good enough to merit another year in charge.

That said, O’Rourke is probably a better manager for the experience as he makes his way off the inter-county stage.

But that’s the way of the world as Eoin Hand and Brian Kerr found to their cost. You only get one crack at it.

The Down clubs were simply not prepared to take another leap of faith in the 1994 All-Ireland winning captain. And it is difficult to argue with Wednesday night’s decision.

But O’Rourke bleeds Down. That’s precisely the reason why it will take a very long time before the amiable Burren man sees that the Sligo defeat was the right time to step aside. Right now, though, the wound is much too raw...