Daniel Carey
DECLAN Kilkelly says he is ‘looking forward to a big challenge’ as he takes over as manager of Castlebar Celtic. Kilkelly was officially appointed on Saturday morning, and will take charge of the team for a game for the first time on Thursday.
The former Celtic goalkeeper will be joined by Harry Jennings, who was also in the dugout with him when Celtic won the FAI Youth Cup in May 2007. A team meeting has been called for tonight (Tuesday), but not many introductions will be needed.
“There’s still a couple of lads there that I actually played with – the likes of Stevie Ryan, Seán Reilly and Fintan McHale,” Kilkelly told The Mayo News. “I’d know all the lads inside out. It’ll be a new era. I know the lads that won the U-18 [Cup], we’ll try and base a team on that with a few of the older lads.”
Kilkelly’s immediate task will be to select a team for Thursday night’s Westaro Cup semi-final against Westport United. He reckons ‘it’ll be an achievement to get 11 players out on the pitch’ for that game, as injuries, players being cup tied and recent departures have left numbers ‘very tight’.
Celtic have ground to make up in the Super League, having lost to Snugboro and drawn two other games, but victories over Manulla and Claremorris have seen them return to winning ways. Gavin Dykes left the club just over two weeks ago and while he’s ‘delighted’ to get the job, Kilkelly admits that coming into the position midway through the season is ‘not ideal’.
“You have to take these opportunities when they arise. Ideally, I’d love to have six or seven weeks without a football match at all, and prepare that way, because the best place to get things done and get things going your own way is on the training pitch, and unfortunately, there’s no time to do that at the moment. But you’ve got to go with what you have.”
Kilkelly will remain on as Mayo League Oscar Traynor trophy team, having got the blessing of Mayo AFL Chairman Pat Quigley to be interviewed for the Celtic job. This year’s competition does not begin until October, by which time the domestic season will have finished.
Club chairman Gerry Walsh paid tribute to caretaker managers Kevin Ruane and Mick Kilcourse, and told The Mayo News that Kilkelly had done ‘very well’ as youths manager. He said he was ‘very impressed’ by the calibre of candidate that the job attracted, and wished the new man well.
The talent in Celtic’s underage ranks was underlined as the club from the county town won the Mayo Helen Johnson U-18 League title with a 5-0 win over Charlestown on Saturday. Goals from Peter Dravins, Seamus Staunton, Danny Fallon and Nigel Naughton (two) clinched a third successive title.
