The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Tumilty is geared up for County challenge Defender aiming to secure regular first-team start
Ross County defender Reghan Tumilty is determined to kick on after his breakthrough season with the Staggies.
Tumilty was handed his firstteam opportunity by Staggies manager Jim McIntyre last season after joining last summer after his release by Dundee United.
The 20-year-old went on to make nine appearances, after making his debut in a 2-0 away defeat by Celtic in December.
Tumilty, who recently signed a new one-year contract, is thrilled with the way his move to the Highlands has worked out after his setback last year. He added: “It was when Mixu Paatelainen was in charge and he wasn’t in charge for long after he called me into his office and told me. Mixu and the youth coach David Bowman made the decision and got rid of quite a few players.
“It was quite a tough time for the club. After that, it was a pretty low time. A good few of us were shown the door, mostly first-team players. I went on trial to St Mirren first and got nothing back from them. A week after, I went to Dingwall for a couple of days training and really enjoyed it. Stuart Kettlewell offered a year playing Development League a week or so after coming here.
“My expectations coming in were that I wanted to start training with the first team and that happened just a few weeks after coming here. I was speaking to Paul Quinn, the club captain at the time, and told him I couldn’t believe I was training with the first team already. It just kept kicking on from there. It was nervy making my debut but playing at Parkhead was something else. I was up against Emilio Izaguirre and Patrick Roberts – and they’re not bad.
“Hopefully, a few of us can now press to get into the first-team picture regularly next season. But for myself, it has been a wonderful season – I couldn’t have asked for any more.”
Tumilty played a prominent role in helping the Staggies’ under-20s side win the Development League title for the first time.
County finished two points ahead of Hamilton to secure the title for the first time, under the guidance of manager Stuart Kettlewell, who Tumilty credits with installing a winning mentality.
Tumilty added: “It was mad. It’s a Leicester City scenario, isn’t it? Thinking back, I can hardly believe it.
“Most of the titles have gone to Celtic, Aberdeen, Rangers and Hibs. When I was at Dundee United, they were nowhere near it. At United there wasn’t a winning mentality, we weren’t forced to win games. Here, Stuart Kettlewell is wanting us to win every single game and do as best we can. Obviously, we did that this season.” Aberdeen are among the British teams who will today learn their first opponents in Europe this season as the opening qualifying rounds for the Champions League and Europa League are drawn.
Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham have all earned automatic spots into the Champions League group stage but five British sides will have to go through qualification to join them.
Clubs cannot draw teams from the same country and will also be separated into seeds for the first round, decided by Uefa’s co-efficient rankings established at the start of the season.
There are three qualifying rounds then a final play-off round before the group stage, with Celtic entered into the second qualifying round along with Irish side Dundalk.
The Europa League’s first and second qualifying rounds will also be drawn and 11 British sides will be pulled out of the pot, among the seeded sides are St Johnstone and Rangers. Aberdeen will learn which of two first-round teams they will take on in the second round.
The Champions League first qualifying round will be played on June 27 and 28, with the second legs a week later on July 4 and 5. The Europa League firstround ties will take place on June 29 and July 6.
“I couldn’t believe I was training with the first team already”