NOEL KING WHIPS a black cap out of nowhere and nestles it on his head.
The word ‘retired’ is emblazoned across the front of it.
“He gave me that,” the departing Shelbourne manager laughs, his assistant coach Joey Malone standing by his side.
The cap is gone almost as quick as it appears.
It won’t be the end, but King’s Shels’ swansong is Sunday’s FAI Cup final against Athlone Town at Tallaght Stadium.
It brings the curtain down on a glittering three-year stint with the Reds; the 2021 league title success ending a five-year wait for silverware, and a league and cup double completed in 2022. They finished second to Peamount United this season, and he has steered them to the FAI Cup final at each time of asking.
No change of plan amidst the changing club ownership situation, like Damien Duff on the men’s side, so?
“It is my final game with Shelbourne,” the 67-year-old Dubliner confirms.
“But I’m not dead! Not yet. I will be doing something in football, tormenting some kids or something, I would imagine.
“The Shelbourne thing was great, but it is very intensive. It’s a full-time job, which is crazy. The teams have got better, better-organised. Games have become more difficult, which is what you want. Three days a week training, match day and then you have the things that go on behind the scenes, making phone calls, dealing with the unhappiness of certain people, that’s all normal.
“I think I need a rest. I am going to go to the sun, for a while anyway.”
***
Confirmation of King’s appointment arrived on New Years Eve in 2020.
Word had been filtering through, but now it was in the public domain.
As is often the case, the reaction on social media was mixed. Looking back now, one or two tweets stand out.
“Great appointment,” legendary Irish goalkeeper Emma Byrne wrote.
“Looking forward to seeing the progress. Best of luck Kinger!”
There was a similar response in the Shels dressing room, a real sense of excitement after a bleak first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“When I heard Noel was coming in three years ago, I didn’t expect it,” long-serving captain Pearl Slattery reflects. “I thought it was class.
“I never played under Noel. I’d obviously known him a long time through the FAI, all that he’d done with the [Ireland Women] U17s so I knew he was a decent manager.”
As a colourful playing career came to an end, King took his first steps into management in 1985 at Derry City. He learned his trade in the League of Ireland, enjoying spells at Shamrock Rovers, Limerick and Finn Harps after the Candystripes, before moving into international football.
He spent 10 years as manager of the Republic of Ireland Senior Women’s team through the early noughties, while he steered the U17s to the 2010 Uefa Championship final and World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.
From there, King took charge of the Ireland Men U21s and was heavily involved with the senior set-up, having coached at Italia 90 and acted as interim manager after Giovanni Trapattoni’s exit. He has also been employed by the FAI as Player Identification Manager and Women’s Development Manager.
But ahead of the 2021 season, he returned to the coaching beat with Shels and made his impact felt straight away.
“The first year he came in, we all went up a level,” Slattery recalls. “That pre-season stuff… we were the fittest we’d ever been. We all wanted to impress Noel. He came in, he set high standards and was demanding of us.
“He has a good way about him. For me, a manager can have every coaching badge you want but players [have to] want to play for you. Managers get to know you as individuals and a group.”
“To end his three-year term with us with a cup would be lovely,” the skipper adds, preparing for her eighth FAI Cup final.
“He’s told me it’s been one of the best experiences he’s had. Vice versa for all of us, we’ve loved it. Very thankful, he brought silverware back to us which is the main thing. Can’t thank him enough really.”
Slattery’s team-mate Leah Doyle shares similar gratitude.
“Noel gave me my breakthrough. He was the first Shels manager to trust me, which I don’t know was a good or bad thing,” she laughs.
The 22-year-old defender made her debut in 2021 and broke into the XI last season, establishing herself as one of the team’s most consistent performers.
A former All-Star in Handball, Doyle credits King for her — and the team’s — development, sharing a brilliant insight to his impact on and off the pitch.
“He’s been amazing. He has just instilled so much confidence in the players.
“He always tells us before a match, ‘Go out and make mistakes. If you don’t make a mistake, you’re coming off’. That’s been something so different because usually if you make mistakes in this game, you’re nearly getting ate!
“It’s been so nice, we can play with a lot of freedom and we can just trust ourselves, trust each other, and I think he’s brought something special to us.
“He picks you for the player you are, he’s not picking you because he wants you to do what he wants. He sees something in you and tells you to go with that, to play to your strengths and work hard. That’s all he wants, just work hard.
“We haven’t thought much about after the season because we always think of the game ahead but it will be so different.”
Doyle is one of many younger players King has promoted from Shelbourne’s successful underage ranks.
Hannah Healy and Rebecca Devereux are others, sitting across the room as their team-mate speaks; 15-year-old Healy, the club’s youngest-ever player and goalscorer, has been a revelation this season, with fellow underage international Devereux similarly influential.
“I’ve said it to girls that he’s really shown faith in the youngsters,” Slattery nods; herself, Noelle Murray and Rachel Graham among the more experienced players and that balance key.
“I’d agree with that: no matter what age, if they’re good enough, you play them. It doesn’t matter about experience. If girls are the best in training, you play them. He’s epitomised that with the likes of Lia O’Leary. Bringing Stapo [Jessie Stapleton] in was some signing. She was young, even though I look at her way beyond her years.
“Then there’s the likes of Hannah, Rebecca, Leah, Lucy [O'Rourke] and Katie [McCarn]. There were others last year brought in around the cup final. It’s important for girls to feel they can play at the seniors. As captain, I get great joy seeing players coming from the U17s to the seniors.”
***
King may have told Slattery the Shelbourne chapter has been one of his best experiences in football, but the man himself won’t go as far as to rank it amidst his 30-plus year coaching career.
He grins as he turns back time.
“I rank them all the same. You go, you give yourself completely to it and just try to do the best you possibly can. Along the way, there has been successes, there has been disappointments, and that is the beauty of it, it really is.
“You annoy people, lots of them. You get annoyed. And that’s just the way it is. You are dealing with unhappy players aswell, that is part of it. But we have had strong squads. We have always had a strong squad and we have managed to build three squads in three seasons and they have been very good.”
Another FAI Cup final win — a second in three years — would surely be a nice way to bow out?
“I’m sure Athlone aren’t thinking so! From my point of view, it would be marvellous but it’s not about me, it’s about the girls. Both teams would want to do it. Two good teams, a lot of good players around the park, and if you get a good game, that would be a great way.”
What about the cap? Will it make a reappearance when all is said and done?
“No. No. I didn’t retire. I’m just leaving Shels.
“I’m not dead, thank God…
“Yet.
“But I’m getting closer to it.”
- 2023 Sports Direct Women’s FAI Cup final: Athlone Town v Shelbourne, Tallaght Stadium, Sunday 19 November, 3pm — live on RTÉ 2.
