CORK CITY MANAGER John Caulfield has added former midfielder Liam Kearney to his backroom staff for the 2017 League of Ireland season.
The 33-year-old, who had three spells with Cork as a player, returns from America to replace Alan Reynolds as first team coach.
Reynolds was yesterday appointed as Waterford United’s head coach.
Kearney, an Ireland U21 international who enjoyed spells with Shelbourne, Derry and Waterford, left Turner’s Cross at the end of the 2015 and spent last year coaching in America.
“I am delighted to get the opportunity and I want to thank John (Caulfield) for having the faith in me to add me to his backroom staff,” Kearney said.
“I know a lot of the players and the staff as well, and I know the club for a long time too, so I am delighted to be back and hope I can contribute to a successful season.”
“In my last season here as a player, I completed the UEFA B Licence because I knew that was the road I wanted to go down. Then I got the opportunity to go to America and I spent the last year over there coaching full-time. That gave me a good base and allowed me to figure out what things I liked and didn’t like, and a sense of what kind of coach I want to be.”
Cork City FC / Twitter
Cork City FC / Twitter / Twitter
“I will be on a different side of the fence now, but I hope I have a lot to offer in terms of advice, coaching and helping out the lads. No one is under any illusions here as to what the targets are; you don’t even have to say it. Everyone is here for one thing and that is success.”
As a player, Kearney won the League of Ireland, FAI Cup and Setanta Sports Cup with City and Caulfield hailed the Conna native as the perfect addition to the coaching staff.
“We are delighted to bring Liam into the backroom team,” the Cork manager said.
“He is a guy that we all know very well, he’s a Cork lad and he played with the club. In my two seasons here, Liam was a player and he did fantastically well for us. He has been off doing his coaching badges and he was in America last year, so it is great to have him coming back in. He knows us and we know him, and he will have a lot to offer us.”
“He has won trophies with the club, he has played in Europe for the club and he has worked really hard on the coaching side of things over the last few years. The way things are progressing at the club, it is great to be bringing someone like Liam into the coaching team. He is very enthusiastic about things and really keen to get going; he will learn a lot from us and, at the same time, he will have some new ideas as well, and that is what we want. We are ambitious, we want to drive on this season and he is a perfect fit for the situation.”
“Liam knows the hard work that goes on at the club; he has seen as a player the work that goes on from the management. He understands that it is 24/7, he’s ambitious and he wants us to win trophies, which is what we all want to do.”
Cork begin the 2017 SSE Airtricity League season against Finn Harps on 24 February.
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