New coach for EJ’s All-Stars
WITH last year being a major success for the newly-reformed EJ’s Sligo All-Stars, ahead of the new season they have landed a top coach on a three-year deal.
The news was announced recently that Spanish coach Alberto Garcia has joined as coach for the Sligo club which volunteer coach Glen Monaghan admits is a massive thing. “Alberto is 30 and he previously played in the League here with Galway although he never coached here. He was coaching in Sweden with Michael Bree who is also from Sligo, he’s coached some big Swedish clubs, including a team in the top Women’s League in Sweden, who are semi-professional.
“Alberto is highly regarded and it really is a major coup for us to get him. When the season finished, we decided to push the boat out. Last year Shane did a great job and really the club has got so big, Pau is also there as a volunteer coach. Because the club was getting so big, the natural thing was to get a professional coach at some point and now we have Alberto and also Pau who is Spanish also, this is his third year with us.
“We also have signed a Spanish player who is 6’8 this week so that great too,
“He played in the Third Division in Spain, which is of a higher level than where we are at in the League here, which is probably more like their Division 5 or something.
“So hopefully the new season goes well. We needed a big player of his size,
“Alberto will be coming to Sligo on September 7th as he’s finishing his coaching badges over in Sweden. It will mean that our pre-season is a bit disjointed but once it gets going it will be fine.
“Alberto has signed a three-year deal because he wants to see what he can do with the team.
“He knows it’s about building something and he will be doing that with this young team.
“We wanted someone like him to come in and work with this young club and young team.”
Shane, who’s son Daniel is playing with the underage All-Stars, will be continuing coaching with the younger teams.
In terms of last year’s panel, Glen said most if not all are returning.
“We have Ronan McGarrity back, so too Aidan O’Shea, we’ve been in keen a lot with him and he’s keen to come back once the GAA season is over.
“Cian Lally has recovered from a broken arm injury he got earlier in the year and is back playing football too with Drumcliffe.
“Philip Hamilton and Tobi Brockmann are back too as is Oisín O’Reilly, fresh from competing with the Ireland U18s in Estonia is playing too,” Glen said.
One of last year’s sharp-shooters, Kaylim Noel, is yet unknown whether he will be making a return to the All-Stars.
The player, from Phoenix, Arizona, is waiting to hear whether a work placement in Galway will be happening and if it does, then he’s expected to be on the panel once again.
The All-Stars have a lot of youth on their side and that’s something Glen admits they can build on for the future.
“It’s a very young team and with the experience of this coach it should be a good mix. Coming in and coaching say thirty-something year olds is difficult because they are certain in their ways and hard to change.
“Alberto will be coming in and looking at ways for the team to play better and develop the talent, it will take time and we know that.”
Glen also praised the passion of the EJ’s All-Stars fans last season, who packed out the Mercy College for their home games and also travelled in numbers for the away fixtures.
“The fans are really passionate and it’s exciting coming into the new season. We have EJ’s on board as our sponsor and Orecco too along with our associate sponsors.
“Our first match is a home game with Limerick on September 16th and we’re really excited about it.
“We’re hoping to build on last year, it was better than we expected and hopefully we can continue that.
“The support from EJ’s and locals has been huge and we really appreciate it.”
The build-up is on for the opening game of the season as EJs’s Sligo AllStars take Limerick in the Mercy College on Saturday, September 16th as the new year begins.