Westport United hunt for new manager

Westport hunt for manager


Daniel Carey

PΡdraig Burns has stepped down as manager of Westport United following the club’s defeat to Athenry in Sunday’s Connacht Junior Cup match.
Burns told The Mayo News that he had decided to go ‘whenever our winter season ended’, and while he was ‘hoping that would be in May’ after a Connacht Cup final victory, that plan was ‘fast-tracked’ by Sunday’s defeat.
Along with Kevin Cusack, Burns led Westport United to the FAI Junior Cup in 2005. They succeeded Brendan O’Connor in late 2007 for a second stint in charge before Cusack stepped down last year.
Burns said it was ‘a difficult decision’ to stay on when his co-manager left, but noted that the year-round season meant there was ‘no natural break’ which would allow a manager step down without causing disruption. “There’s never a good time – but this is the right time,” he said.
“It takes a huge amount of energy – physical and mental – to be involved at the level that we’re involved at,” he said. “There’s no half-measures. And I’ve expended all of those energies over the years. I don’t think there’s much point in continuing when I wouldn’t be able to do it to the best of my ability: the players would suffer, the team would suffer. ... [Plus] I have other things in my life and I want to do other things.”
Noting that it was almost a decade since Burns and Cusack ‘took over for two weeks’ following Noelie Moran’s departure as manager, Westport United chairman Frank Gillivan said the pair had brought the club’s Junior A team to a different level.
“They’ve won every junior medal possible apart from the Connacht Junior Cup,” he added. “The people of the club, players, supporters and the people of the town owe them a great debt. They’ll be hard shoes to fill.”
Regarding a successor, Gillivan said the club were ‘not going to rush into anything’ and the committee would be discussing the matter. “Whoever is going to take over will inherit a great bunch of players,” he concluded.