NEW Antrim boss Enda McGinley says his assistant Stevie O’Neill can juggle club and county commitments with Dungiven and Antrim next season – and insists he won’t be under-estimating the task of getting out of Division Four.
The Antrim county board have certainly aimed high by appointing McGinley and O’Neill as the men to lead the county footballers out of the doldrums.
After much discussion, it was decided O’Neill would continue with Dungiven having just finished his debut season with the Derry club side.
“The split season obviously makes that doable,” McGinley said.
“It was obviously something that was a concern; could it work? But the more we looked at it, it shouldn’t really be a problem at all. Stevie loved working with Tyrone at county level and it’s working at county level that he’s really looking forward to.”
One of the best forwards of his generation, O’Neill has fashioned an impressive reputation in coaching circles, particularly as a forwards coach with Tyrone under Mickey Harte until he departed his native county at the end of 2018.
In the early throes of that 2018 season, Tyrone forward Cathal McShane, who would go on to claim an Allstar the following year, explained how O’Neill’s coaching was improving him as an attacker.
“You can tell with the craft that Stevie has and you can see how he was such an excellent footballer,” McShane said in March 2018.
“It’s just different wee drills and bits of advice that always helps and we try to take that on board to make ourselves better.”
Sean Kelly has also been recruited having won an All-Ireland Club title with St Gall’s in 2010 before managing his club for several seasons up until last year.
The west Belfast man was one of the best players in Antrim during the ‘Noughties’.
“I was delighted to get Sean Kelly on board,” McGinley added.
“He’s very, very similar, thinks about the game a lot. Our general philosophies are all very, very similar. To be honest, I think it will be a brilliant management team.”
Errigal Ciaran clubman Stephen Quinn assisted McGinley at Swatragh and has been involved in coaching at the Tyrone academy and in schools around the province.
McGinley replaces Lenny Harbinson who experienced several near-misses in search of promotion out of the bottom division over a three-year period.
Antrim are now approaching their fourth consecutive year in Division Four. McGinley’s primary objective is clear.
“It’s been said to me a few times: ‘Ah, you’ll definitely get out of Division Four.’ And you stop and think: ‘Well, Leitrim were exceptionally unlucky to be relegated and were really a Covid relegation because they lost a chunk of players heading into their last game and I know they’re exceptionally happy with the progress they’re making under Terry Hyland.
“Louth beat Down in their last game and they’ve a new man in.
“Sligo would be seen as higher than Division Four and they’re going to have a new management team in too. All those management teams will be sitting around thinking: ‘We’re definitely going to get out of Division Four.’
“So that’s four teams that are immediately thinking they’ll get out of Division Four. There is no doubt about it, it is an exceptionally tricky division but there is big belief there.
“At the same time there is no point looking at those other teams because we’ve enough work to do ourselves and to get our own ship in order.”
