Noel Mitchell takes his place on the bench
The Ballinamallard bench next season will contain no fewer than three men who have led teams to Irish League titles in recent years. Whitey Anderson, himself a Championship 1-winning manager with the club, and John Quinn who led Ballinamallard United II to the Reserve League title, will be joined by a new face to the club who has also enjoyed Championship success.
Noel Mitchell has joined the backroom team at Ferney Park and brings with him a wealth of experience as a coach not only at club level but also as an international coach of women’s development teams with the Irish FA.
Noel’s most recent role in club management was at Championship 1 Loughgall where he joined in January when they were in serious trouble at the halfway point of the campaign. With the help of goals from Aaron Patterson, with whom he will now team up again at Ballinamallard, Noel led Loughgall out of the danger zone to safety.
Prior to Loughgall Noel was a long-time manager of Coagh United whom he led to the Championship 2 title and promotion in 2012.
Whilst this will be his first time coaching in the top flight Noel played senior football at Glentoran and at Ards where he partnered David Jeffrey in the heart of the Ards defence during the famous trilogy of Irish Cup finals against Bangor in 1993.
Whitey Anderson commented, “I am absolutely delighted to bring Noel on board at Ballinamallard. I have known him for a long time, he’s a fellow Cookstown man, and he has a reputation as one of the best coaches around. Noel’s experience as a manager will be invaluable to me, and the fact that he is new to the club and to the players will bring a fresh perspective which I think will be helpful.”
“With John Quinn having come back from Dergview I am very fortunate to be in the position now where I have two highly experienced and qualified coaches in my backroom team so soon after losing Brian Khan. And with Steve Feeney now having a year under his belt as a player/coach, I am very confident we will have the strength in depth on the bench as well as on the pitch to face the challenges ahead next season.”