Kieran McKenna Ipswich Town manager: Praise for Fermanagh man as he guides his team back to Premiership after 22 years

The dominant 2-0 victory over Huddersfield on Saturday secured their elevation following a 22 year absence beating a forlorn Terrier’s outfit thanks to goals from Wes Burns and Omari Hutchinson.

His promotion has been applauded by Tom Elliott, the chairman of Ballinamallard FC, where McKenna first learnt his trade.

Kieran's parents Liam and Mary own the Manor House Hotel in Fermanagh, where his siblings James and Rosemary are directors.

According to local reports, a youth team linked to James watched the big match in the hotel, followed by major celebrations.

Kieran celebrated his team’s promotion to the Premier League and pledged to “work really hard over the summer” in time for the new season.

It heralded back-to-back promotions for the Tractor Boys and confirmed the visitors’ relegation to League One.

He has overseen a remarkable turnaround in the club’s fortunes and promotion this season.

McKenna said: “To get here so far so quickly, a lot of hard work, everyone together, it’s amazing what you can do.

“They’re incredible (the players). I’ll speak to them over the next few days, they have been an absolute privilege to work with, my first managerial job. I’ve been fortunate with the group of players, group of people that I’ve come across and they are a wonderful group and they deserve all the success.

“It’s been great and a massive thank you to my family and to my parents."

Fermanagh South Tyrone MLA Tom Elliott is a personal friend of the McKennas and describes Kierean as "a hard worker".

Kieran was born in London but grew up in Fermanagh.

As far as Tom knows, he is the only premiership football manager at present from Co Fermanagh.

"Kieran is a really good lad, he comes from a great family and I know him well and am very proud of him," said Tom.

From Ballinmallard he went on to play at Enniskillen Town and then Spurs. Sadly, he suffered a bad injury at an early stage and so went into coaching with Spurs Under-18 team.

Then he moved to Manchester United Under-18 and was later called to the senior team, where he became assistant manager under Jose Mourinho.

From there he became manager of Ipswich Town, which Tom said was "quite an ordeal" for a man with a young family to up sticks and move.

"But he is a really good fella and I am really pleased for him. He's a really hard worker.

"The last time we had a family fun day at Ballinamallard about a year ago he was down at it - he happened to be at home at the time. He just wandered into the grounds and just mingled with the people there."

As an avid Spurs fan, Tom would have met up with him when the two teams met, either home or away.

Tom admits there will now be a conflict of interest when Spurs next clash with Ipswich.

"But from my own experience as a player, you set your friendship aside for 90 minutes."

But Tom's dreams for Kieran do not end there.

“Maybe he will come back to us at Spurs as manager at some point in the future."