Killymoon Rangers Chairman, Malcolm McConkey, welcomes new managers Stephen Warwick and Don Smyth to the club after their recent appointment.
New Managers Appointed
Killymoon Rangers have appointed Don Smyth as their new first team manager. Don takes over from Mark and Michael Wilson who stepped down at the end of last season. Don will be looking to establish the Cookstown side in the third level of the Irish League and build on the experience gained from playing in the IFA Championship last season. The new manager is looking forward to working with the young squad and will look to add some more quality to the existing set-up.
After playing with Glenavon, Dungannon Swifts, Cookstown United, Stewartstown and Killymoon Rangers, Don moved to Australia and played for Geelong and Eaglehawk. When he called a halt to his playing career, Don got involved in coaching around Australia and from 1996 held a variety of roles working with youth, men and ladies sides before retuning to Cookstown a few years ago, where he assisted with the coaching at Coagh United and Tyrone’s Excellence programme.
Don is keen to get started and looking forward to the challenge of managing Killymoon and working with the players. This season Don will be assisted by Stephen Warwick, who succeeded Junior Dardis as second team manager, after Junior decided to concentrate on playing for Killymoon. Although this is Stephen’s first managerial position, he is keen to learn and looking forward to the challenge. Stephen is no stranger around the club as he played for Killymoon for many years and will be looking to transfer his playing experience to his players.
This is an exciting time at Killymoon and like last season will be visiting a lot of clubs for the first time in what is a very competitive and high quality league. The final set-up of the league will be known at the beginning of July.
The Executive Committee was very impressed with the high standard of interviews and would like to thank all the candidates who applied for the managerial positions.
Pre-season Training
The new managers will take their first training session on Saturday 4th July at the Sports Arena at 1pm and then the following Tuesday from 7-9pm, both on grass and Thursday from 7-9pm on the synthetic surface at the same venue. Training will continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the same time, venue and surface during July, further sessions may be arranged on Saturdays, depending on pre-season matches. Further details will be released through the press and at training when known. All registered players are asked to attend and anyone wishing to join the club are more than welcome to attend.
Pre-season Matches
Killymoon have confirmed the following matches in preparation for the forthcoming season:
Saturday 25th July – Bryansburn Rangers
Annual 4 Team Tournament where 2 full matches will be played
Saturday 1st August – Both sides will travel to Newtownstewart to play Ardstraw’s first and second team
