St. James’ Gate FC are delighted to announce the appointment of our new 1st team management squad for the coming 23/24 Leinster Senior League Season.
Stephen ‘Hoppy’ Kinch has been appointed as First Team Manager. Stephen impressed when he applied for the job and demonstrated a hunger and desire to bring the club back to life on the pitch. Stephen has a proven pedigree as a player and has recently stepped up to Management roles across Men’s, Women’s and Girls underage football. On his appointment Stephen said “I am over the moon to get the job, it will be a hard task but I am excited at the prospect and opportunity to try to stabilise the club and start moving back up through the leagues over the coming seasons. I was impressed by what the club has to offer and the plans to re-establish the club within the community. We’re a sleeping giant and my job will be to make the place attractive to play football, to have people in the area that want to come to us, for the right reasons and represent the badge on their chest. It’s a great honour and I honestly cannot wait to get going”.
Stephen will be supported in his role by our new Head Coach, Dave Dunning. Dave is a UEFA B qualified coach with numerous other qualifications across different specialisms within the sport. Since coming in, Dave’s enthusiasm has been infectious. Dave has also managed and coached across Men’s, Underage and Women’s National League. Dave said “I am delighted to be involved in the project, my family has history with this club so I want to be part of building the club back up to where it belongs”.
So, we as a club are really excited about the plans the lads have in place for the coming season. It is expected that Ray McDonnell and Joey Salmon will remain in their roles as part of Stephen’s coaching team.
We also hope to appoint a Development/Saturday side manager over the coming weeks as we also hope to field an additional team to support all levels of football within the community.
