DERRY county board is planning a revamp of its football coaching and playing structures, The Irish News understands.
1993 All-Ireland winner and former county manager Damian Cassidy is heading up the coaching and development committee, which has been formed as part of a streamlining process that has seen the number of sub-committees significantly reduced since Stephen Barker became chairman.
Alongside Sean McGoldrick, Danny Quinn, Philip Kerr, Chris Collins, Brian O’Donnell, physio Chris McNicholl and coaching officer Bobby Farren, they are looking at ways to improve the overall health of Derry football.
Kerr is currently in Australia and has been visiting a host of AFL clubs to glean information on their internal structures and practices.
It’s understood that they will look primarily at how to improve the health of club football across the board.
While Derry clubs have won four Ulster senior club football titles in the last decade and the schools have come back to the top of the pile, it’s accepted that the county is very top-heavy.
Derry has only had three provincial intermediate winners since the competition began in 1998, and has an horrific record at junior level.
Former Loup player Mickey O’Brien was the last man from a junior club (at the time) to play championship football for the county, back in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, both county grounds have undergone a degree of remedial work during the lockdown.
Owenbeg’s main pitch, which has been dogged by drainage issues since its opening, has been gravel-banded and sand-slatted at 500 points and is expected to be ready for the latter stages of the club championships.
Celtic Park has also been re-sodded in areas and re-sanded.
The Oak Leaf county board is currently in the middle of a tendering process for maintenance work, catering and the tuck shops at both venues as they look to alleviate the financial pressure they’ve found themselves under in recent years.
