Ryan McConville excited by Forfar Farmington challenge

The Northern Irish man, who took over at Scottish Women’s Premier League club in December, has coached in three continents Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as managing in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the USA.

So how did it all come about for McConville?

“I was playing for Armagh City and my best friend at the time asked me if I wanted to take the Ladies team at the club so I decided I would do it and in return the club would put me through my B licence,” he explained.

“It was my first job in the women’s game and in fact my first in coaching we won promotion and got beat in a cup final.

“After this I moved to local neighbours Loughgall and we won promotion to the Premiership in our first season together, before moving onto Linfield and the rest was history.

“I didn’t see myself back in the UK in 2020 and situations out of my control meant I had to leave the USA and return home. The club I was with in USA was called FSA (Farmington Soccer Association ) where I was the girls technical director.

“I was also the director of coaching at a soccer coaching company Soccer XS and will be forever grateful for the Di Tamsso family as well as Rob Lamb for the chance to work for their organisations of which I do feel I contributed well and made a difference to both organisations.

“Having to leave Connecticut led to a phone call with the Forfar Farmington committee and after a few phone calls I agreed to take the position of the clubs Head coach and Technical Director.

“The question of what made me want to manage them it was always an ambition to coach in the Women’s Super League or Scottish Women’s Premiership with the investment and the quality of players in the leagues that was definitely a selling point.

“I have always embraced a challenge and when I came to Linfield in my first season the club had only survived a relegation play-off and they were favourites for relegation again, however we then went on to do the double treble in my first two seasons and that led to Linfield now being the leading team in the NIFL Womens Premiership now.

“So the challenge of being tipped for relegation at Forfar Farmington was indeed a challenge and I intend to work hard and keep the club in the top flight with minimal resources compared to the rest of the Premier League teams.”

McConville has already added a touch of Northern Ireland to the club bringing in Simpson from Cliftonville and Lauren Brennan from Sion Swifts.

Before football was suspended Forfar Farmington beat Motherwell 2-1 thanks to a double from Simpson

“Billie and Lauren have been players I have admired for a long time and I tried to sign both at Linfield many years ago,” he explained.

“Both players are quality and being able to give them an opportunity to play in the SWPL and put them in the shop window for the bigger teams and also to increase their chances to be called up in the national team panel was a chance I wanted to offer to both of them.

“They have worked so hard and I hope when we get back up and running that both Billie and Lauren as well as Jade Lindsey can get back into the national team setup as I feel they would only add strength , competition and depth to Kenny’s team at present.”