BARRY Tracey is embarking on a new challenge at Donaghmore, but his four-year spell at Owen Roes leaves behind a trail of memories that will last a life-time.
He guided Owen Roes to a Division Three title in 2017, but what made the biggest impact on Tracey personally was the way the club rallied around him when his father Peter passed away in May 2019.
That informed his decision to stay on for a fourth and final year, but now was the right time to step aside and he’s been snapped up by top-flight outfit Donaghmore.
Tracey said, “My father passed away last May but they rallied around my family, the club was so good to us. My wife Julie’s parents passed away around the same time and they really went above and beyond to help us.
“Three years was long enough really but they were so good during a horrible time.
“We reached the play-offs last season and were beaten by Loughmacrory by a point – I could’ve left it there but I spoke to the players and decided to give it another year.
“It turned out to be a difficult season with Cathal [McShane] thinking about going to Australia and then getting injured after he decided to stay, and the lockdown period obviously wasn’t straightforward either.”
Another reason why Tracey decided the time was right was his reluctance to manage against his home club Greencastle, whom he managed before heading to Owen Roes.
Fate conspired that they were soon housed in the second division, and they were on a collision course in this year’s championship only for Gortin to knock Ower Roes out after extra-time in a keenly-contested first round.
“When I left Greencastle they were in Division One and Owen Roes were in Division Three, but Owen Roes got promoted and Greencastle were relegated.
“It was a factor in me deciding to leave. Both teams had been going well and I thought they could end up meeting in a county final. I’ve family and children involved with Greencastle, I’d played in an All-Ireland final with some of the lads and managed a lot of them as well, so it was getting to the point where I had to make a decision.
“I’d given a lot of energy to Owen Roes. When I came in I was doing a lot of the training and coaching and was also taking the reserve team. Work-wise I’d moved to Magherafelt so there was an awful lot of travelling as well.
“This year was challenging but they did really well in the circumstances. Five or six men were unavailable for one reason or another – Cathal was injured, Ryan McAleer did his cruciate, Seamus Dooher was unavailable – and I think we’d have challenged all the way if we had everyone available. We did really well to take Gortin to extra-time and if we’d won that one there was a good chance we’d have met Greencastle in the semi-finals.”
While Donaghmore have consolidated themselves as a Division One outfit since achieving promotion in 2016, they were wobbly enough this year.
They looked like they were heading for the wooden spoon in the league but victories over Derrytresk and an admittedly depleted Dromore took the bad look off things. They were also competitive in their championship defeat against Ardboe, in fairness, and they have some excellent young players like Shea Hamil and Lorcan Devlin, whom Tracey thinks could do a job for Tyrone, while stalwarts like Damian McCaul and Niall McKenna are still around.
They have fantastic facilities at their disposal at the Torrent Complex, and Tracey says he wants their football to be of the same standard.
“I got to the meet the panel outside in the stand one day, first thing that struck me was the sheer numbers. Their facilities are second to none, it’s a credit to the club and I suppose the aim is to get a team that befits what the community have put in place.”
By Niall Gartland
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