2023 is coming to a close and, among other things, it will be remembered as a year when some Irish League managerial dynasties met their ends.
Six or seven months ago, these long-serving tenures were still in place at clubs like Ballymena United, Newry City and Glenavon – but the picture has changed since.
Most recently, at the latter-most of the three, Gary Hamilton was relieved of his duties after a near 12-year stint at Mourneview Park filled with prosperity.
After Irish Cup success in 2014 and 2016, four top-three placings in the Premiership and one of Northern Ireland football’s most iconic European triumphs – a 2-1 victory over an Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erling Haaland-led Molde in the summer of 2018 – several bottom-half years as a new wave of professionalism and full-time football took hold ultimately culminated in a troublesome start to the 2023/24 campaign and, indeed, Hamilton’s departure in September.
A changing climate that saw several of the old guard take that full-time leap and, in the case of Mark Sykes, Bobby Burns and Joshua Daniels, head beyond these shores means European Play-Offs have become their main league objective in recent times, but fresh inspiration has been provided for the Lurgan Blues.
Stephen McDonnell was in his teens when former Glentoran and Portadown sharp-shooter Hamilton was hired in December 2011 and, at 31, is the Irish League’s youngest supremo.
He’s not looked out of place, though.
Already with pedigree in a top-flight hotseat having first taken post at Warrenpoint Town aged just 25, his Glenavon have started to ignite; five wins on the bounce, 15 points out of 15 against the rest of the bottom six that’s seen the club shoot away from relegation danger.
How Ballymena and Newry could do with something similar.
Fresh blood has brought with it a fresh identity in Lurgan, although with 10 points apiece at the basement, those two are still in a sticky predicament.
McDonnell is no stranger to being the No.1 in the dugout, but Jim Ervin and Gary Boyle are both very much newcomers to that situation.
Indeed, in Ervin’s case, he was still playing for Carrick Rangers before opting for the Ballymena top job vacated in the summer following David Jeffrey’s exit from the role.
And at Newry, Boyle stepped up from the assistant manager’s position after Darren Mullen’s decade-long tenure at The Showgrounds.
In 2019, United were the second-best team in the Irish League midway through Jeffrey’s eight-year reign – but, like Glenavon, they have fallen down the pecking order due largely to an increased full-time presence in the domestic game.
The days of Adam Lecky and Cathair Friel tormenting defensive lines across the land and blossoming Academy talents like Leroy Millar and Kofi Balmer letting their class be known are well in the rearview mirror now. Even recently, defensive powerhouses Conor Keeley (Drogheda United) and Craig Farquhar (Larne) and captain Josh Kelly (Glentoran) have left in the past year.
As it stands, in late 2023, they are the second worst team in the division. Newry, on goal difference, are propping them up once place below.
Ervin, a dedicated servant at the peak of the Braidmen’s powers under legendary ex-Linfield chief Jeffrey, took up a mantle that, in the early knockings, has had more troughs than peaks.
The highest point for the distinguished former Sky Blues centre-back came in the form of a 3-1 derby day triumph over Coleraine at the Warden Street Showgrounds, when top-rated striker Noah Stewart struck a brace and Alex Gawne hit the mark to ensure all three points in late October.
There are others who were there during Ballymena’s recent headier days, like Steven McCullough, Johnny McMurray and Andy McGrory, but that defeat of the Bannsiders has yet to inspire a climb up the table – they’ve picked up a single point from the five matches that followed.
Newry have hit the rocks, too. After Adam Salley and Lee Newell finishes earned Boyle’s side a 2-0 success at their Ervin-led counterparts on October 7, they have lost seven straight.
Since the outfit’s reformation and rise up from the ashes a decade ago, they have mounted a spectacular rise to the Premiership. Mullen achieved promotion to the top-tier not once, but twice and, on the latter occasion, kept them safe before bringing the curtain down on one hell of a glorious journey.
He left a lasting legacy having performed in a way few others could, and Warrenpoint native Boyle, having helped along the way as his assistant for six years, boldly rose to the plate to build on that platform again.
It hasn’t been a dream start, not by any stretch, but green shoots have come in the form of an enterprising ball-playing brand.
Elements of a promising young core have also been largely unavailable to Boyle – esteemed midfielder Donal Scullion, for instance, has been unavailable due to injury and Lorcan Forde isn’t long back, while James Teelan moved to Crusaders and loan expirations for Matthew Lusty and Dylan Sloan of Larne also called upon the new manager to find creative solutions.
Amid Mullen’s tenure was a relegation – yes, a dreaded word and something Newry will be desperate to avoid, but in Boyle’s predecessor’s case, it did prove to be a key building block.
Therefore, based on experience, you couldn’t see City making any rush-of-blood judgments.
Ballymena chairman Chris Selwood, meanwhile, has already insisted the club will back Ervin and his philosophy through thick and thin.
Young forward Stewart, who has already built an emerging reputation and is one of United’s brightest sparks this campaign, is showing he can deliver in the here and now. His fellow 19-year-old, homegrown midfielder Lewis Tennant, is another who is producing the goods, and the club remains a well-respected environment for the flower of youth to spread its petals.
It’s important that, through adversity, the trust in what is working is maintained – a case that most certainly applies at both these clubs.
They lock horns for the second time this term on Friday, December 8. It’s set to be a cracker… well, for neutrals, anyway.
Featured image from INPHO/Jonathan Porter.
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