Kilmore Rec FCEst. 1967 · Crossgar

Club history

Who managed Kilmore Rec

Sixty years of teams, and for long stretches of it nobody wrote down who was picking them. This is everything the club can currently stand over. 4 spans are blank, and that is the point of putting it here: they are the easiest questions on this whole site for somebody to answer.

  1. 1967 – 1977Not knownThe first decade, from the Killyleagh summer league to the Amateur League. Nobody has written down who picked the team.
  2. to early 1979Damien MorganHanded over mid-season, stayed on as a player, and scored the winning goal in the Junior Shield final that April.
  3. 1979 – 1981Noel McCarthy and Jimmy McCarthyTwo of the four brothers in the side, running the team and playing in it, through the Junior Shield win, the Cochrane & Corry final of 1980, and the Division 2A title. Jimmy is named as manager in the press again in May 1981, before the Clarence Cup final.
  4. 1981 – c.1987Not knownThe first half of the decade in the top flight: the Irish Cup tie against the RUC, the Intermediate Cup run to the holders Chimney Corner, the Steel & Sons campaigns. No name attached to any of it.
  5. c.1988 – c.1991Davy GrahamAn ex-Linfield player, in the papers in February 1988 "striving to keep Kilmore in the top flight" and still in charge that August.
  6. c.1991 – 1994Tom KennedyIn charge for the 1B title and the first Premier seasons. Left in February 1994 to take over at Crewe United.
  7. 1994 – 1995Not knownA season of churn: the club changed its management more than once in a few months. Nobody has put a name to this bit.
  8. 1995 – c.1996Gregory Morgan and Ronnie KirkTook over in the summer of 1995. Warren Feeney had been lined up for the job first and did not take it. Morgan had played in the 1B title-winning side of 1991.
  9. c.1996 – c.2000John McCarthyIn charge for several years either side of the turn of the century, with Noel McCarthy as his assistant and Wilbert Morrow as trainer. His time covers the 1996 Youth Cup win, relegation, the promotion back out of 1A and the return to the top of the Premier. The exact seasons are not settled. From memory rather than from the record — the order is believed right, the years are not settled.
  10. c.2000 – c.2006Donal "Duck" BellBuilt the side that won back-to-back Clarence Cups and took Ballymena United and Distillery in the County Antrim Shield.
  11. 2006 – c.2007Paul MooreAssisted by Brian Healy. The same Paul Moore whose header hit the Cliftonville crossbar in 1992.
  12. c.2008 – 2013Paul Mullan and Gary KennedyThe Steel & Sons years. Kennedy was player-manager, named man of the match in the 2009 final, and was still bringing himself on as a substitute at Solitude in 2013. The double of the Steel Cup and the 1A title came in 2009-10.
  13. 2013 – 2014Mark HollandPlayer-manager at 35, in his first season in charge, straight after captaining the club in the Irish Cup quarter-final.
  14. 2014Paul MullanSigned off 2013-14 thanking the players for climbing to third: their commitment, ability and will to win. Assisted by Ian Smyth, then by Neil O'Bank and Joe McStay. The post was advertised again that November.
  15. Nov 2014 - Jun 2015Not knownThe club advertised for a first team manager in November 2014 and was still urgently seeking one the following June. Did Neil O'Bank step up from assistant, or did someone else take it? Seven months of the club's history with no name on it.
  16. Jun - Sep 2015Gerry GoodallAppointed alongside Alec McGarrity, John Mullan and Michael O'Neill - a management team the club said brought English, Irish and Amateur League experience.
  17. Sep 2015 - Jan 2016Donal "Duck" BellA second spell, as interim manager, fifteen years after his first. He went on to take charge of the Ladies team in 2024.
  18. Jan - Sep 2016Graham McConnellWent on to manage Wellington Rec.
  19. Sep 2016 - Aug 2017John MurrayA long-standing servant of the club, with league titles and a Steel & Sons winners' medal from his playing days.
  20. Aug 2017 - Jun 2021John YoungThe longest spell of the modern era. Paul Straney was his first-team assistant from August 2017. Phil McDonagh joined as joint manager in July 2020 - he had taken Dromara Village from 1B to the Premier and won their first Border Cup - but the pair had almost no competitive football before both left in June 2021. Young came back to the club in October 2024.
  21. 2021 - 2026Michael CarvillPlayer-manager, assisted by Philip Traynor. Promotion back to the Premier in 2025, ten years after the club left it.
  22. 2026 -Mark KerrAppointed in June 2026 to rebuild in 1A.

Managed the club, played under someone we haven't named, or just remember who was in charge? Fill in a gap →

← Back to the club history