New Fermanagh Ladies managers Paddy Fox and Malachy Coyle.
New Fermanagh ladies management insists on a clean slate for the county.
Fermanagh Ladies County Board have ratified Paddy Fox and Malachy Coyle as the new senior county management ticket.
The pair from Loughmacrory in Tyrone come into the post having accumulated extensive experience on the underage inter-county scene with the Red Hand county.
Fox and Coyle steered Tyrone to their first ever under 16 Ulster title, but this will be the pair’s first full senior appointment.
They succeed to Aide Little as senior boss after the Lisnaskea man stepped in following the departure of Lisa Woods.
“It’s a big step, but we’re looking forward to it. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Coyle.
The Loughmacrory man admits that the Fermanagh job will be something of a step into the unknown.
The turbulence in the Fermanagh camp over the past year has not gone unnoticed, but Coyle says the new management will proceed on the basis of clean slates for all.
“I knew very little about them. I knew that they were in the intermediate final a couple of years ago.
“I knew there was a lot of unrest last year, for whatever reason I don’t know. Bar that it’s all a new ball game to me down in Fermanagh.
“We made very clear to the committee that it’s clean sheets for everybody, no matter what was done has happened in the past. We’ll be taking it from scratch.”
Coyle has been coaching since the early 1990s and says his preference is for a direct style of football, although he is not doctrinaire on the matter.
The new management intend to be very hands on and will be meeting up with the panel shortly to go through their plans for the coming season.
“We intend to meet with the players some time in the next month, take a couple of training sessions and then take the month of December off and then go at it hard in the new year.
“If they were at All-Ireland final level two years ago they can’t be that far away.”
Curry takes on Fermanagh ladies underage post
LAST Thursday’s Ladies County Board meeting saw the ratification of Derrylin club man Emmett Curry as minor and under 16 manager.
He has a long career in ladies management at club and county and has managed at most grades including a two year spell with Darren Boyle in the senior inter-county team post.
A highly rated manager with the O’Connell’s club, earlier this year Curry steered their under 12s to the division one county title, their first ever at this grade.
Fermanagh are returning to the under 16 grade having not fielded at this level in 2015.
However Curry has prior knowledge of next year’s squad and is confident he can hit the ground running.
“I started off last year [2014] with the under 14 development team and I brought them on this year, so the under 16 panel would be much the same as last year. The minor team will have a large number of under 16s with seven or eight minors players,” said Curry.
“Phil Palmer is my back room staff at the minute and we’ll be bringing in another member shortly.
“We’ve been out from September up to last week. We had 96 out last week at Lissan between under 14 and under 16.
“What we’re doing is trying to rebuild the senior team, start off at development level to try and keep the senior team right.”
For now though, it’s a well deserved break for all concerned before getting stuck into things in earnest in the new year.
“We’re starting in the last week of January and then I think the under 16 and minor league starts around St Patrick’s weekend.
“We’ll see what we’re like then,” said Curry.
To read more.. Subscribe to current edition
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere