Clements relishing new coaching role at Omagh Ladies

NEW coach Nicola Clements has been suitably impressed by Omagh Ladies’ start to the season but insisted she wouldn’t allow her players to get carried away after just two wins.

Omagh defeated Randalstown in the quarter-final of the Senior Cup on the opening day of the season and followed that up with an eye-catching 4-1 victory over NICS in the first Senior League One game of the season last weekend.

This evening (Thursday) Omagh host county rivals Dungannon, who were relegated last season, at Campsie and Clements, a PE eacher at Dundalk Grammar School, believes that will be a much tougher assignment for her team.

“I would imagine that Dungannon will provide our toughest test yet,” said Clements.

“They stepped down this season and I would expect they will be among the stronger sides in the league.

“By all accounts there’s a bit of rivalry there!”

The new coach takes over an Omagh team which would appear to have an exciting blend of youth and experience this season.

And having started out as a player with Newry and then Dromore and developed an interest in coaching and player development while at the latter and more recently with Saintfield, there is little doubt that Clements has a wealth of experience and knowledge at this level of the domestic game.

Nicola moved to live in the locality a few years ago and having taken a short break from the game, is now relishing her new coaching role at Omagh.

While she has set her players no specific targets for the forthcoming campaign, Clements believes that within the current group of players at Omagh there is an abundance of talent and real potential for success.

However the school teacher won’t be caught out by looking any further ahead than the next game.

“I suppose you could say I have about 15 years experience coaching in and around this level of the game,” she continued.

“It’ll take a while to learn about all the players, getting to know their style of play and matching the styles of play.

“Without doubt there are some very talented players at Omagh. The club hasn’t really had a dedicated coach in recent seasons and yet they did well because they had experienced players on the pitch.

“There is talent right throughout the squad,  in the ones and twos; there is a lot potential and good pathway for the younger players.

“So far numbers are good at training and I’m very happy where we are at.

“But I never look too far ahead; as far as I’m concerned it’s always about trying to win the next game and seeing where that takes us.”