Oisin McConville believes that his former Armagh teammate Kieran McGeeney has earned the right to decide his own fate.
Saturday’s penalty shootout defeat to Monaghan brought the curtain down on Geezer’s ninth season as manager.
McGeeney is currently the longest serving inter-county manager in the country, following Colm Collins’ departure from Clare.
“I don’t think people know the ins and outs of what has gone on in Armagh for the last probably ten years,” said McConville.
“I genuinely think that continuity has helped Armagh more than it has hindered them. And I think there’s an opportunity for Geezer to stay on there.
“He probably needs to freshen things up in the background I would imagine. I think there’s the opportunity for him to stay on.”
Saturday’s quarter final loss was the Armagh’s third via penalties inside the last 12 months.
“Can you really punish a manager for getting beat on penalties?” Added McConville. “Because effectively that’s what they’ve done.
“Even listening to Vinny Corey after the game, he said ‘we didn’t win a game, Armagh didn’t lose a game. We won a penalty shootout.’
“I know that the majority of people will want change. But I like continuity in a world that just wants to flip from one thing to the next.
“In Gaelic football management now, there’s nobody lasting ten years. Geezer’s last ten years and that tells you something about him.
“He’s obviously done a lot of things right and if he was to stay on, he’s in year ten now, so it probably would take some freshening up somewhere along the line.
“But I think if he’s willing to go ahead and do it then he should go and do it,” explained the Wicklow manager, speaking on The GAA Social podcast.
“Who’s going to walk into that job and who’s going to want that job? That’s the next question you have to ask yourself.
“Who’s going to be willing to go in there and start that from scratch all over again? I think it should be down to Geezer at this stage.
“I think he’s done enough for Armagh in order for him to make his own decision now. And I think if the right decision for Kieran is to walk away, then that’s what he should do.
“But he should think about where Armagh were when he came in and where they are now. I think we’re in a much better place.”
