Inside Track: It’s celebration time for Fergie and some managers
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
Managers, those from around these parts and further afield, have been in focus of late. Among them are winners, losers, recent appointees and, in one case, an anniversary celebrator.
The latter is Alex Ferguson. It’s 40 years since the Scot first took charge at Manchester United, succeeding Ron Atkinson in November 1986.
In the 27 years between then and vacating the hot seat, the success he brought to Old Trafford was phenomenal...two Championship Leagues, 13 Premierships, five FA Cups, and a whole host of other competitions.
Not even the most successful of his predecessors, Matt Busby, could match that. And it hasn’t been too hectic for his successors.
Eleven have filled the post since Ferguson retired, some of them in a caretaker capacity, others on an interim basis, which, when you think of it, is much the same.
The self-styled, “Special One”, Jose Mourinho, took in a visit to Old Trafford on his managerial merry-go-round, making it on to the podium on a few occasions.
Michael Carrick was one of those who filled a stop-gap role. He’s now permanent – at least at the time this is being pieced together, which is just hours before he leads his team out against Aston Villa.
Ferguson will be looking on from the Directors’ Box, maybe thinking about the time there were cheers, not jeers, coming from the East Stand and other places around the old stadium.
The Athletic Grounds in Armagh is a few hundred miles from Manchester, and they play a different game there.
On last Saturday night, one-time Kilkerley Emmet and Louth footballer, Shane Lennon, witnessed his Crossmaglen Rangers’ side play Lazarus – metaphorically speaking – for yet another time.
The team in the Kilkenny colours like to give their opponents a bit of an odgins – as we used to say back in the day when we were having races. Somehow, they’ve been able to make up the lost ground.
It was like that in Saturday’s televised Ulster Club Championship tie with Gowna. The Cavan side led by 11 points at one stage on a night when there wasn’t enough wind to blow out a candle.
Cross then began to chip away at the lead. With time almost up and Gowna leading by just a point, the O’Neills, Oisín and Rian, put on a real family show, combining to grab a winning two-pointer.
Lennon is a close associate of Oisín McConville, a multiple medal-winner with Crossmaglen and now manager of this year’s Tailteann Cup-winning Wicklow team.
McConville will have former Castleblayney and Monaghan footballer, Dermot McArdle, and Kevin McKernon on the line with him next season, hoping to grow on the Garden County’s 2026 success. (Yes, corny)
McKernon, on the Down team in the 2010 All-Ireland final, had charge of the Dundalk Gaels team for their recent intermediate league and championship wins. He’ll be an addition in his new surroundings.
Fergal Reel’s reappointment as manager of the Louth under-20 team is expected to be announced shortly. While all the other county team posts were filled a number of weeks ago, this one was left in abeyance. Seemingly, there were issues to be resolved.
In his time in charge, Reel has led his team to three Leinster finals, winning one. The 2025 victory was a prelude to a place in the All-Ireland final, following a narrow win over Mayo.
Darragh Beirne scored for the Westerners that evening in Longford, but wasn’t allowed dominate in the way he did with the seniors in this year’s winning All-Ireland campaign, which ended with him winning an All-Star.
Reel had the benefit of a big carryover from 2025 going into this year’s campaign. The experienced players were prominent in the team reaching the provincial final, in which Kildare proved that little bit too good for them.
As he sets out on his fourth year on the line, the South Armagh man won’t have such a luxury. Only Tadhg Devenney is eligible from the Leinster final team.
Therefore, it will be a building exercise, with the hope that players of the calibre of All-Star Dara McDonnell, Tadhg McDonnell, Pádraig Tinnelly, and Seán Callaghan – all now established seniors – will emerge.
Reel, incidentally, is believed to be planning to devote all of his energies on the county team next year. Which means he won’t be with St Mary’s, after one year in charge.
To finish on managers: Timmy O’Shea and Jimmy McNulty were in opposition on Sunday, not, as you might think from their names, looking after Gaelic football or hurling teams.
O’Shea was guiding Cray, said to be the oldest club in London, and McNulty calling the shots for Stockport County in the opening round of the FA Cup. Non-league Cray led by 2-0 at one stage, but then conceded three goals, and were out of the competition.