New managers needed at Westport Utd and Manulla

It's understood that the management trio of Kevin McNamara, Tony Pierce and Pat Donoghue, have parted ways with Westport United and the club is, actively seeking a new appointment, with the names of David Cawley, Anthony Elding and Alan Henry on their radar. At the time of going to press, the club couldn’t be contacted for comment.

Cawley is on the books of Finn Harps and played 62 minutes for them at Cork City on Friday night. The League of Ireland season is drawing to a close – Harps have six games remaining – and Cawley is likely to be out of contract for three months, like most LoI players, once that happens. It seems likely, however, that the Ballina man, 33, will want to continue playing and would probably prefer a national stage to playing in the Mayo Super League.

Elding, who previously worked in the Mayo League with Manulla, holds a UEFA Pro A license and is thought to be interested.

Henry could be interested too. The ex-Finn Harps coach, previously worked with Ballina Town. His meticulous match preparation and work on set-pieces, could be just what Westport need, to mount a serious challenge to Castlebar Celtic, next season.

The solution for Westport could be a lot nearer home, however.  Joe Kelly, the Mayo Oscar Traynor manager, previously worked with most of the club’s excellent crop of young players. He knows Kevin Kitterick, Dylan O’Malley, Caoimhin O’Toole, Adam Nugent, Jack Dawson, Cian Halpin, Noah Massey, Harrison Quinn, Cillian White and Fionn O’Hora, and others, very well, and coached them previously to national level, both with the club and with Rice College. He is undoubtedly one of the top coaches in the province and beyond, proving his credentials with Mayo last season taking them to the Oscar Traynor Final. He brought Quinn, Nugent and White into the Mayo squad. He won the treble with Westport United ‘B’ three years ago and played in the FAI Junior Cup winning squad in 2005. His, seems an obvious appointment.

Westport have the best young squad in Mayo and probably further afield. Their young players have developed really well in the past few years since many of them were first introduced by Dave Hoban, Joe Lawless and Phil Keegan, when they were in charge three years ago. They are a really exciting team to watch and have the raw talent to not only challenge Castlebar Celtic’s dominance of Mayo football, but to become a force themselves. The club’s next appointment is absolutely crucial, to deliver on the undoubted quality of the players.

Regarding the suspensions of the previous trio and other club members, the Westport United website simply says: “Following the club’s appeal to the Connacht Football Association against disciplinary sanctions recently imposed by the Mayo Football League Disciplinary Unit on Westport United personnel, we note that the sanctions against Tony Pierce and Donal Fahy have been totally set aside. Our Super League Team Manager, Kevin McNamara, and coach, Padraig Burns, have always strongly resisted the original sanctions and we note that that the sanctions imposed on them have now been significantly reduced by the Connacht FA.”

MANULLA APPOINTMENT

The word round Manulla is that a management team of current club officials, with Andrew Shally as a player-manager, or player-joint-manager, could be on the cards, after Aiden Dunleavy, left the club last week. In reality, however, what Manulla needs is a squad of committed players; players who will be available to train twice a week, play at the weekend, and not have other sporting distractions. They also need to bring youngsters through a coaching system, that will provide a few players each season for the junior team. They may have to wait a division, or two, lower, in the Mayo League pyramid, while this is being developed.

If they appoint Shally, he may bring in a few friends from other clubs, to bolster the squad for a year or two, but to succeed longer term, Manulla need to start from schoolboy level. Once they have the players, the queue for the manager’s job, will be out as far as the N60 – the Balla/Castlebar road.

READ: The Mayo Super League team of the year