After the guts of half an hour chatting Peter McGinnity on Friday afternoon, I realised I had been holding him back from hanging out his washing, which in turn got us to chatting about the ‘Dry;Soon’ electric clothes airer, it was an insightful chat on many levels!
Most of all, it gave me an insight into what it’s like managing your own club. It got me thinking, it can’t be easy, it has to be pressure and why would you do it? All of which Peter touched on when he told me why he has decided to call it a day on his time as manager of Roslea Shamrocks.
“I know that I did all that I could, but in some cases maybe that wasn’t enough and there were disappointments along the way as well,” he recalls.
The first round defeat to Derrygonnelly being one and the the Kinawley defeat this year where “we just didn’t turn up” says McGinnity but his mind soon moves to the better times, the victory down in Belleek one Saturday night when against all odds, with boys out injured, they put in a “tremendous” performance, and then the championship play-off against Ederney which secured senior championship football for next year, which he described as them finishing on “a bit of a high”.
“Roslea are still close enough to the top four or five in division one” declares McGinnity, “and they are still in the senior championship and maybe somebody else can bring them on a bit”. As he reflects, he says;
“One of the joys of it was meeting and getting the opportunity to work with the likes of Michéal Flanagan. That’s certainly something you’d regret about not being in close contact with him and watching him develop over the next couple of years, and he’s only one of a number but he’s an exceptional player and it’s great to be involved with good players.”
Asked if he had spoken to the players about his decision he said;
“No I didn’t, that would only complicate matters and I wanted it to be a head decision as opposed to a heart decision and with your own club, that’s more difficult. “
And when asked if he had heard from many players since news of his departure filtered out, in jovial mood he says; “I’ve heard from all the boys I expected to hear from.”
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