Wallace joins Baraclough’s NI backroom team

OMAGH man Gary Wallace has been appointed to the backroom team of new Northern Ireland manager Ian Baraclough.

Wallace has been named strength and conditioning coach for the Northern Ireland senior team and will have the opportunity to work with such household names as Steven Davis, Jonny Evans, Paddy McNair and the Tyrone duo of Stuart Dallas and Niall McGinn.

While Wallace, director of Core NI Kids, admitted that the job offer came somewhat out of the blue, he had previously worked with Baraclough as part of a very successful under-21 side.

His appointment may have been a surprise to him but it really shouldn’t have been. He had been involved in the underage Northern Ireland set-up for quite a number of years, right the way through from being a IFA primary school coach to being involved in the Club NI programme and on to the under-17s, under-19s and then the under-21s.

And the Omagh man has a busy autumn ahead. Northern Ireland have a total of six UEFA Nations League games against Romania, Norway and Austria scheduled between September and November, not to mention a crucial Euro play-off game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK’S TYRONE HERALD