Ballyglass building for the future

By Stuart Tynan

IT is all change at Ballyglass this season.

With the departure of long serving manager Tom Connolly, talisman Ryan Connolly (who has joined League of Ireland side Finn Harps), and the loss of experienced trio Gary Browne, JP O'Gorman and Niall Gallagher, the new management team of John Noonan and Joe Regan, who were involved with the Ballyglass B side last season, will look to bring stability to the club, as well as bringing on a few guys from the Under-17 team with an eye on building for the future.

“Looking forward to it. It's very hard to replace Ryan. There is not many lads in Mayo with his quality but we just have to get on with it. We have the quality and we're looking to bring in a few of the Under-17 lads and build for the future,” said Regan.

Despite the loss of Ryan Connolly, there is still plenty of talent within their ranks and the likes Conor Heneghan, Evan Connolly, Aaron Darcy and Keelan McDonnell can cause problems for any side.

One thing Ballyglass will be looking to improve on, like many teams, is consistency.

10-0 and 7-4 wins were coupled with heavy 7-0 and 9-2 defeats. They picked up an impressive 18 points from 27 in the opening half of the season, but a nightmare second half saw them pick up only eight points from their final nine games.

It has carried on into this new season also. They suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Westport United in the Calor Gas Super Cup as well as bowing out of the T.P. Brennan Connaught Cup at the hands of Ballinasloe Town, where a number of missed guilt-edged chances early doors proved fatal.

But despite the form Darren Reilly, for one, is excited to get started with the league.

“It's a big change around the place but we're looking forward to it and see where we go from here.

“We have a lot of young lads coming through. We'll looking forward to teaching them the ropes and once we do, a few of us old fellas can retire!” he chuckled.

Ballyglass will hope to stop the rot this Sunday morning, but they face a tough opener as they welcome league champions Castlebar Celtic to Michael Keaveney Park, with kick off at 11 a.m.

Pictured is Ballyglass FC's Darren Reilly. PHOTO: MICHAEL DONNELLY.