Thursday, January 12, 2006

Former Down All-Ireland winning team-manager and the Mourne counties most successful manager, Peter McGrath is back in team-management in his native county. The Rostrevor clubman who guided Down to Sam Maguire wins in 1991 and 1994 has taken over as the man in charge of Down second division club, An Riocht.

McGrath who just over three months ago managed the Ireland International Rules team in Australia will be hoping for a quick return to the premier division of the Down SFL in the coming year after An Riocht were relegated last season. He has already met with the players and officials and will take his first training session next week. And he has plenty of talent to work with, as his new club won the county U-21 championship title last week-end with a one point win over Kilcoo after extra-time. That winning An Riocht side included two of the stars of Down’s All-Ireland winning team in 2005 – James Colgan and Martin Clarke together with Neill Doran, Aidan Flanagan and Aiden O’Hanlon all who are expected to be involved with the clubs senior side in the coming season.

Peter McGrath stepped down as county senior team-manager almost four years ago, and over the past two years he has been in charge of Louth senior side, Cooley Kickhams. The lure of his home county kept calling him back home. Many football people in the Mourne county are of the opinion that this An Riocht challenge is just made for the genial Peter, and we will monitor his progress in the coming weeks and months.