New Accies coach hoping to put smiles back on faces

OMAGH Accies’ new head coach, Stewart McCain, is keen to put smiles back on the faces of players and supporters at the Thomas Melon Playing Fields next season.

After seeing his former team relegated from Energia All-Ireland League 2C and back into the Ulster junior ranks at the end of last term, the Enniskillen Grammar School PE teacher is keen to help his new charges rediscover any confidence lost after a disappointing year on the pitch.

And he believes that the talent is there to do just that: “There are a lot of quality players there, but it’s hard when you lose a few games and your confidence gets knocked,” he observed.

“But the quality is there so we just have to try to give them the tools to play the rugby we know they are capable of.

“The hope is we can keep as many players as possible and maybe get a few guys, who haven’t been playing as much back in to train a bit more, have some fun and get the confidence up to get back playing a bit more free.

“Ultimately, there is a young squad there, so it will be about giving those lads the confidence and the structure to play.

“I’m really looking forward to coaching them all. A lot of the guys I would have played are maybe not playing as much any more or are playing a bit further down the club. There’s a lot of young lads in there now, so it will be a whole new challenge to getting to know a whole new bunch of lads.

“Hopefully it will all go well.”

While he admits that balancing his teaching and coaching job in Fermanagh with a young family and his new commitments at the Accies won’t be easy, McCain is confident he can achieve his aims with the club he starred for as scrum half for many years.

And he believes the overall coaching structure at Omagh will allow his team and the club to flourish. He will work alongside director of rugby, Glenn Warnock and first XV manager, Mark Neill, while Stephen Welsh has come on board as set piece coach and Ali Beckett is the new strength and conditioning and skills coach; while James Kane will continue as second XV coach, Stefan Hamilton is the third XC coach and Mervyn Edgar is set piece assistant.

“It’s pretty much like coming back to play, isn’t it? When I was playing, it is hard, it is time consuming and obviously with a young family it is a big commitment, but hopefully we can make it work,” he added.

“We have a good coaching team down there with a lot of guys who have a lot of experience and there are a few new guys coming on board, so I think we are well covered on that side of things.”

While confident and excited by the project ahead, McCain isn’t going in to his new job with blinkers on. He knows just how tough a task he faces, particularly in the dog eat dog Ulster Championship but he feels if the players knuckle down, they can collectively achieve their aims.

“I looked at the table and the teams in the league and there are no easy games there,” he observed. “Right the way across. Obviously you have Dromore and Enniskillen who were top of the pile last year, you have CI[YMS] coming up, who will be a good side, Portadown have a new coach as well, so there will be no easy games. And there’s Lurgan, Bangor and Randalstown.

“I know that the recent past seems to show that teams that come down struggle a bit but hopefully we can get a bit of a bounce with the young lads and hopefully play with a bit less pressure on a weekly basis and we can strive under those conditions.

“We just want to be as competitive as possible and ultimately I want us to be the most competitive team in Q1 [Championship 1], I want us to be the hardest working team in Q1. I want us to really go at teams and then we’ll see where we are.”