Gary Hamilton reveals key reasons behind Ballymacash Rangers decision as Irish League legend looks to deliver Premiership dream

Hamilton is an Irish League legend having scored over 260 goals as a player during stints at Portadown, Glentoran and Glenavon before further enhancing his reputation by leading the Lurgan Blues to two Irish Cup crowns across a near 12-year stay in the Mourneview Park dugout.

He departed in September 2023 and had happily remained out of the game since, but a surprise call from Ballymacash has brought him back in.

The 44-year-old will be joined at the Bluebell Stadium by Paul McAreavey, who was also Hamilton’s assistant at Glenavon, and while originally only taking a meeting to be polite, this exciting project has sparked his competitive fire once again.

"At no time had I thought about getting back into the game, I was enjoying my time out of it,” he told the club’s media channel. “I enjoyed having my weekends to myself, spending more time with my kids and had started a new job driving and was enjoying that too.

"I've always said that anybody who makes the effort to make a phone call, I'm always respectful and said I'd go down and give them the courtesy of a chat.

"While I was driving down, there was no situation where I thought I was going to go back into the game. All of a sudden I came down, we got chatting and I loved the ambition of the people on the committee.

"Their ambition is to get to the Premiership and there's a lot of committed people to make that happen.

"I still probably wasn't 100% going to go back (after the chat) but they wanted to show me around the facilities...when Maccers and I walked in, the two of our mouths just opened because in all my time I've never seen facilities like they can offer.

"It blew me away a bit and it gave me a buzz so imagine bringing players down to show them around.

"It wasn't as if it's for money because clubs at this level don't have it but the ambition of the club and anybody who has ever known me knows I want to win things, achieve things and be successful."

Ballymacash only entered the Irish League pyramid for the first time in 2022 after winning the Mid-Ulster Intermediate A title under Lee Forsythe and came close to sealing consecutive promotions, narrowly missing out in a Championship play-off against Knockbreda.

They finished second behind Bangor in their maiden Premier Intermediate League campaign and with state-of-the-art facilities combined alongside serious ambition, Ballymacash are looking to follow the same trajectory.

"I've dropped down two levels but I'm at a club where I can get that buzz back of winning trophies and challenging again,” added Hamilton. “It's so important for me that we have that and any club I was going to go back to again I wanted to have that opportunity to achieve something.

"I want to progress this club, help them move up the leagues with the help of Maccers...I wouldn't have came back to a club without Maccers because he's somebody I trust with my life, has a great knowledge of football and been a personal friend for a long time.

"Hopefully between the two of us and our contacts we can get the right players to the club.

"This club is ambitious and I'm not going to make any promises, but I'll give everything I've got to make that happen and it won't be through lack of effort or trying.

"Like I did at Glenavon and like I did when I was a player, I'll give everything to who I work for to make a success of it."