BY RYAN FERRY

BEN Reuven admits that he didn’t expect to be appointed as the Swilly Rovers’ new manager but he’s relishing the opportunity in front of him now.

Reuven has recently moved back to Donegal and is Director of Football with Ballyraine FC.

He has also previously held roles with Finn Harps and Middleton FC, and is now keen to get stuck into his role with Swilly.

“It’s my first senior gig and I didn’t know what to expect but the club have been absolutely brilliant – warm people who have given me a lovely welcome.

“From the board to the players to the coaches, everyone has been brilliant so I can’t wait for our first competitive game now.”

Reuven didn’t have any great expectations when he applied to be Damien Friel’s successor but the club liked the vision he had for the role.

“I’m Ballyraine’s Director of Football and I wanted to get involved with a senior team because I coached a club when I was down in Cork.

“I moved back to Letterkenny in January, and I basically just applied for the Swilly job through their Facebook.

“Swilly was an easy one for me to go for and I’ll be honest, I didn’t think I’d get it because I know how big the club is.

“I decided I’d just give it a go and thankfully they have given me the chance.”

Swilly won the First Division title in the 2022/23 season and appeared to be a coming force once again.

However, it has all fallen a bit flat since that.

Last year the club struggled to gain any traction and were relegated out of the First Division.

The likes of Ciaran Kelly and Duncan Patterson have moved on but Barry Gallagher, Ian Ward, and Martin McDaid will provide some continuity but Reuven, who is assisted by Jamie-Lee Blaney and Kieran ‘Freddie’ Boyle, makes no apologies about giving young players a chance.

“We have brought in a whole load of new players. Most of them are young, hungry players and we will see how they bed into the whole system.

“We retained most of the players we had from last year but we
did lose a couple with players looking to stay in Premier Division football.

“I basically said to them ‘all the best to you’ because I can’t offer Premier Division football at the moment but hopefully we will see them next year.

“So we have lost a couple of senior players but the young players that have come in are even better than expected and they will do a great job for us.

“We also have James McCahill back from Australia which is a big help, and Ryan McDaid is back from injury as well and he’s doing really, really well in pre-season.

He added: “We have been training for about five weeks now and we have played a few pre-season friendlies.

“We lost a few and won a few. The numbers have been really good. I don’t think we have dropped below 18 at training throughout pre-season.

“The club struggled last year and a lot of that was down to a lack of numbers.

“We’re trying to correct that this season.”

Rathmullan Celtic are Swilly’s opponents this week and the two teams find themselves in similar positions as the Seasiders were also relegated last year and have a new boss in Chris Cunningham.

“I can’t wait for it,” said Reuven.

“We want to win every match whether that is the league or the cup.

“We will try our best to put in a shift and aim to win.

“It’s a local derby. We want to set the tone and show everyone around Ramelton and the local area what we are, and how difficult it will be to beat us.”