DARREN O’Leary is in charge of Red Hughs this season and he is hopeful of being in the mix for a return to Division 2.
O’Leary managed his native Sean MacCumhaill’s for two years along with Mark O’Sullivan and they guided the Twin Towns men back to Division 1, along with a run to the semi-final of the Donegal SFC in 2023.
A year out whetted the appetite for O’Leary and he was ready to get stuck in again at the end of last year.
With the appointment only confirmed over the festive period, they decided not to enter the Ulster League to get up to speed with the new rules, but the boss feels they are in a good place coming into the new season.
O’Sullivan is in as number two and Damien Stewart is coaching while Ryan Dullaghan (statistics) and Aaron Burke (S&C) are also helping out.
“I recharged the batteries but it was something I always wanted to do in getting back into the football. It’s a new challenge and I’m looking forward to it.
“They’re good people and the players have all bought in for the year ahead.
“They were in the gym before Christmas and we did a good six weeks of pre-season and started playing friendlies at the start of March.
“It might have been a slow process but we’ve had a good buy in from the boys and we know what we want to do and hopefully come the end of the league we’ll be in the promotion mix.
“With the new rules it’ll be hard to know what will happen and there are probably five or six teams looking for promotion.”
The Cross/Killygordon men have both Stephen McMenamin up with the county and they will be without sharpshooter Jack Gillespie, who is studying in Coventry, for most of the league campaign.
That trio weren’t available last league campaign as they suffered relegation, but they did pick up a few results towards the end of the campaign and they reached the quarter-final of the Intermediate championship last year, before a four point defeat to eventual winners Termon.
“I contacted most of the boys and nobody has really left the squad and everybody is on board including the boys down the country.
“We’ll not have Stephen or Jonny for a while but that’s about it. Jack is still in college studying his last year of physio in England and that comes first but I’ve been in contact with him and we’re hoping to have him for the championship if not the end of the league.
“Conor Galvin played minor last year and he’s coming through and then Liam Carlin is playing soccer in Derry but he’ll be in the mix once that finishes up.”
Robert Emmets are up first in Castlefin this Saturday and they also have a new manager in John Duffy as they look to build on last year.
“Last year didn’t go to plan but Division 2 is very competitive but looking at the championship results, there is plenty of talent in Red Hughs in my eyes so it’s very important to get off to a good start.
“There’s no better game to start off with than a derby game with Robert Emmets, John Duffy will have them well organised and fired up so we’re looking forward to it.
“Unfortunately we have a few injuries ahead of the weekend but it is what it is, it’s up to the other boys to step up to the plate.
“We’re in Division 3 for a reason but if we can get promotion it would be brilliant and then add in Jonny, Stephen and Jack there would be no reason why we can’t compete in the Intermediate but we’ll be taking it one game at a time in Division 3.”
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