New Westport United manager named

United boss is named


Daniel Carey

BARRY Kilgannon has been appointed as the new manager of Westport United and will meet the players this week.
The 41-year-old is principal of McHale College, Achill. and has been living in Westport for the past two years. He played with Limerick City during Billy Hamilton’s time as manager in the late 1980s, and also played with Ballina Town. He managed Limerick side Aisling Annacotty, and coached the University of Limerick.
Kilgannon will get his first taste of Super League action on April 11, when Westport United play host to Castlebar Celtic, now managed by Paul Large. Frank Gillivan, chairman of Westport United FC, said the new manager would be ‘a fresh face’ with ‘new ideas’, and had ‘a good history in soccer’. As someone not familiar with the players, he ‘comes in with a clean broom’, the chairman added.
Kilgannon’s predecessor PΡdraig Burns stepped down after United went out of the Connacht Cup at the fifth-round stage, beaten by Athenry. The club celebrates its centenary next year.

Celtic’s season begins again
CASTLEBAR Celtic have their first competitive outing of the new season tonight (Tuesday) in the preliminary round of the EA Sports Cup. Salthill Devon are the visitors to Celtic Park, and the game kicks off at 8pm.
Celtic have been handed a bye in the first round of the FAI Ford Senior Challenge Cup and will travel to Carlow to play fellow A Championship side FC Carlow in the second round on the weekend of May 16. The winners of this tie will go into the third round draw which will feature the Premier and First Division clubs from the League of Ireland.
In the meantime, Celtic will play three games in the cup competition that precedes the A Championship, beginning with a home match against Finn Harps on Saturday, April 10. They will travel to Galway United and host Sligo Rovers before the league – ‘our main focus’, according to manager Declan Kilkelly – begins in May.