McIntyre ‘ excited’ to hand over reigns to new manager Lyttle

WITH two wins, one draw and one defeat during his time as interim Sligo Rovers boss Declan McIntyre says he is happy with how his time at the helm has panned out.

McIntyre handed over the reigns to new Bit O’Red boss Gerard Lyttle on Sunday morning following the draw with Derry City as he settles back into his role as assistant manager for the foreseeable future.

McIntyre spent just over two weeks as caretaker overseeing the accumulation of four Premier Division points whilst also guiding Rovers through to a round of the EA Sports Cup.

The Donegal native who turns 58 on Friday revealed that he has been asked by the new man to stay on at the Showgrounds as Lyttle’s right hand man.

Speaking about the incoming Rovers boss and his own role in the new setup, McIntyre said: “To be fair to Ger it was the first phone call he made on Friday night and I’m more than happy to stay.

“I’ve been here before both as a player and as a coach and I’m excited and I know the players are looking forward to him coming in too.

“I’ve seen Ger put on sessions for UEFA when I was over there and he has a great reputation as a coach.

“I’m happy to hand it over to him. He sees the potential in the group and we’re looking forward to the next phase of what’s going to happen.”

On the game itself, McIntyre stated that one goal would have been enough to decide a cagey affair.

“I don’t think they ( Derry) overly troubled us. They may have had a lot of possession at times but I don’t think Micheál ( Schlingermann) really had that much to do.

“Once we got to grips with their system and the way they were playing particularly in the second half, we looked more like we would go on and win the game.

“We created the better of the chances in the second half and if anyone looked more likely to score it was us.

“The way the game went, an extra goal was going to win that match.”

The Bit O’Red’s record on Church Hill played a huge part in the fifth place finish last year.

Only Dundalk have taken the full quota of points from Sligo this season and McIntyre said the squad were keen to continue to make their home ground a difficult place for opposing teams to visit.

“It’s something we’ve spoken about since the start of the year and it’s something we’re really happy about and we want to maintain.

“If we defend properly which we probably didn’t do early on tonight we will definitely get chances and if we take those chances then we’ll win matches.”

Commenting on his decision to withdraw Chris Kenny from proceedings at the break, McIntyre said the robust nature of the game and Kenny’s booking 28 minutes in persuaded him into a reshuffle. There was praise too for Kenny’s replacement Regan Donelon and also Gary Boylan who looked assured in Kenny’s position after his introduction.

“Chris was on a yellow card and I was a bit scared because it was a really physical game and we did not want to go down to ten men again.

“Regan came straight in and he was flying. Gary went into the middle of the park and he was excellent.”

The highest praise however came for Rovers’ goalscorer and man of the match Kieran Sadlier who once again put in a stellar all- round performance.

“He is potentially the best player in the country”, he gushed. “Offensively he was second to none and he chipped in on the defensive end of things.”