THE big news this week was that Ronan Clarke will be manager of Naomh Séamas, Aldergrove. The All-Ireland winning forward has been manager of the Armagh Ladies footballers in the past. He takes over from Paddy Nugent who is over St John’s footballers.

Clarke has been a club manager with Monaghan Harps, Cavan Gaels and Tullysaran in Armagh, whom he won a Junior Championship with.

Last year Aldergrove played in the Senior Championship having been promoted in 2019 when they won the Intermediate Championship. However, their 2020 campaign saw them lose to five group matches. Their only win was against Aghagallon.

There is no change for the St Joseph’s, Glenavy management as Declan Duncan and Jock Duffy remain in charge.

Con Magee’s have retained the same manager, Ian McKeown. They had a positive run in the championship and won three of their five group games.

At St Teresa’s, there are no changes to the management. Liam McGoldrick remains as the football manager. They also had a good run in the group stages and enjoyed three wins in their five group matches.

Rasharkin will have Stephen Hardy over them for the second year. He’ll hope to have a better run in the championship. They only managed one win in their five Intermediate Championship matches, a 2-10 to 0-15 victory over Naomh Padraig.

The picture at Michael Davitt’s remains unclear. Sean Og O’Neill was manager last year. They are looking for a new person but they have yet to find the right man. They won two of their five Intermediate Championship clashes.

Randalstown, Tír na nÓg have a familiar face in charge of them. Michael O’Kane from Glenullin takes the team that he coached a number of years ago. They had Ronan Rocks in charge last year. They only won one match in the championship.

Dunloy’s footballers will be managed by Anthony McQuillan for another year. That’s no surprise as McQuillan led the footballers to the Intermediate final. They beat Ballymena in the semi-finals but couldn’t get past Moneyglass in the decider.

Hurling

Greg O’Kane remains in charge of the champions Dunloy, who will bid to try to win their third Senior Championship in-a-row this year.

Sarsfield’s senior men’s hurlers will be managed by McGuinness brothers Niall and Colm.

The St Teresa’s hurlers will be managed by Stephen O’Hara, who was over them last year.

Rasharkin are still looking for a hurling manager.