McNicholas looking at the present and future for Celtic
By Stuart Tynan
A lot can change in two years.
In 2019, Castlebar Celtic stormed their way to the Super League, the first for the club in eight years. However, many of that title-winning team, including Cathal Coyne, Gerard O'Boyle, Jose Sola, Liam Flatley and Jordan Loftus, are no longer part of the squad.
Coupled with an injury-hit 2020 before the season was voided, a rebuild job is now the task for Celtic manager Michael McNicholas.
“It's been a tough pre-season so far,” McNicholas told The Connaught Telegraph. “We've lost a tremendous amount of players. We're trying to basically put together a new team.
“It's common knowledge we've lost five players through emigration alone, starting players for us. Players of that calibre don't grow on trees. What we're trying to do now is bring a lot of young players into the squad. We've lads coming back into the club and trying to put the pieces of the jigsaw together at this moment in time.”
Some of those young players got a chance last season. Paul Walsh lit up the wings for the Hoops with some dazzling displays while the likes of Davitt Neary made a significant impact.
Walsh will be unavailable due to commitments with the Mayo Under 20 Gaelic football side, but McNicholas hopes the likes of Neary and a few other young players returning to the club, including members of the Quigley Cup-winning side of 2019 such as Eoghan Hughes and Calum Lavelle, can make the step up.
“Davitt came in the last three games of last season and was man of the match in two of them. He is a fabulous footballer and we hope he is going to be a mainstay of our side this season.
“A lot of good young lads are coming back to the fold, players who have played League of Ireland at underage level. Now it's a matter of trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and see how quickly we can gel.”
COMING BACK
Like the rest of Mayo's teams getting underway this weekend, it will be their first competitive game since October, and McNicholas believes it will take a few games to see where they are at.
“We started a programme in the middle of January. A lot of that was personal responsibility on the players. Coming back for this season, I feel we're as fit as we can be due to the programme that were put in place and all credit to the players for carrying it out. But there is no substitute for match fitness.”
Their first assignment this season is at Celtic Park against a familiar foe in Ballina Town in the opening round of the Calor Gas Super Cup. Their record against Ballina in recent encounters in the cups makes for grim reading, but as far as McNicholas is concerned, 'these are the games we want to be playing in'.
“Between the Super League, Super Cup and Connaught Cup, we seem to meet each once a month.
I think both teams have a good idea of one another. In relation to ourselves, they'll be coming up against a relatively different side. It's going to be a really, really good test for our lads to see where we're at so early in the season.”
Looking further ahead, setting targets while rebuilding a team can prove tricky. Time will tell whether they are ready for a title challenge, but McNicholas admits they will have to 'gel very quickly' in they are to defend their title.
“At this moment in time, we are still defending Super League champions. We fully intend to go there and defend our title. Hindsight might answer that question better then.
“We've an exciting crop of young players. They have to get up to speed as quickly as possible. It's gonna be down to just playing games and seeing exactly where we are at. We might need the rub of the green from time to time and we'll have to be organised.
“We got a lot of credit for the goals we scored when we won it, but I think we were also very solid defensively, and that's where our foundation needs to start from this season.”