Frank McBrearty is loving life at Raphoe Town FC – and says its the perfect release from the daily grind of political life.
The outspoken and at times controversial public representative is the manager of Donegal Junior League outfit Raphoe Town.
McBrearty was a talented sportsman in his teenage years, and was a brilliant boxer and excellent footballer.
He played for Kildrum Tigers, Raphoe Town, and Finn Harps reserves, but he left Donegal in the mid 80’s to work in the UK.
In London, he played for a number of top junior clubs in the region and has always shared a deep love and passion for football.
However, he has now entered the managerial arena – his first gig in senior football, and says he’s relishing the challenge of propelling Raphoe into the Donegal Premier Division.
McBrearty has assembled a talented squad that has a good blend of youth and experience, and feels that he could have a team capable of playing Intermediate football in the next couple of years.
McBrearty told Donegal Daily, “It’s a great release from politics, it’s a difficult and stressful job, so I’m enjoying the new role.
“I coached Raphoe U14’s and U16’s and Drumkeen United in the Donegal Youth League a number of years ago, but this is my first role in senior football.
“I was approached by a number of players to take over at Raphoe, and I had worked with a lot of them at underage level, and I was happy to take them up on their offer.
“We’ve had a good pre-season and we beat Drumoghill and Lagan Harps, and while we lost our opening league game away to Gweedore Celtic, it’s been an encouraging start.”
McBrearty has his own son Frankie marshalling operations in the middle of the park, and the talented midfielder brings bags of experience to the Raphoe side.
Frankie Jnr spent a year in Iceland, and was close to signing for Sheffield Wednesday as a teenager – only to see the move fall through at the last minute.
He was an integral part of Peter Moran’s Bonagee United team, and is a key player for Raphoe Town.
However, McBrearty says he’s got a side stacked with quality and experience and says the depth in his squad gives him confidence that his side can gain promotion.
“Frankie has obviously operated at a high level in the past, but Ryan McCullagh is a huge player for us, he’s a top class player and again is vastly experienced at Intermediate level.
“We’ve got David Craig who won an USL title at Kildrum, and we’ve also got Jamie Gallagher and Christy Bogle at are disposal who are brilliant players.
“But look, it’s a tough, tough league, the two Gweedore sides are going to be hard to beat, Cappry are looking to bounce straight back up, Keadue are a physical side with good players and Donegal Town are also a difficult proposition, so it’s not going to be easy.
“The attitude of the players has been first class, training has been excellent, and if the players continue to apply themselves, then we’ll be OK, I’m confident we can get promotion into the Donegal Premier Division.
McBrearty says the addition of Shane Dolan to his backroom team as assistant manager has been a massive help to him – and also said he’s been extremely encouraged by the amount of talented young players coming through the youth set-up into his senior side.
McBrearty said, “Shane Dolan is my assistant and he’s been a great help to me, he had a fine career in the Donegal League and brings a vast amount of experience to the project.
“He’s knows the league inside out and the two of us compliment each other well, and both bring an array of experience and knowledge to the side.
“One of the most pleasing aspects for me so far, is how well some of the young lads have performed – they’ve made the transition from youth football into the senior set-up seamlessly and it’s great to see the club producing so many top, top young players.”
McBrearty’s side face Deele Harps in a local derby this weekend, and he’s expecting a feisty clash, but hopes his players can focus on their football.
“Discipline is a hugely important thing for me as a manager, I don’t tolerate a lack of discipline, when I was boxer if you abused the referee you could be suspended for a year and rightly so.
“I won’t accept any of my players getting involved with referees, it’s not on.
“Sunday’s game will be tough, it’s a derby and it’s going to be feisty, it’s what you would expect in a derby clash, but I’m hoping my lads keep their heads and focus on playing football, that’s the one thing they can control, and if they do that they hopefully we can get a positive result.”
It’s early days under the tenure of McBrearty at Raphoe, but there is an air of optimism around the club that they’re heading in the right trajectory and are making progressive steps in pushing themselves on as a club, and with the charismatic and experienced McBrearty at the helm he may be the man to lead them back to the Donegal Premier Division.
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