Rainey in major coup after signing former Italian out-half Ian KcKinley in coaching role

Born in Dublin, McKinley - a product of the Leinster academy - played six times for his native province and was capped by Ireland at U20 level before losing the sight in his left eye and retiring in 2011.

Using specially manufactured goggles McKinley was able to return to rugby in 2014 and was signed by Treviso in 2016 to play in the Pro12 and made 67 appearances for the club.

After spending three years in Italy, McKinley qualified to play international rugby for the Azzurri and was given his debut by former Ireland full back Conor O’Shea in during an autumn international against Fiji in 2017.

The last of his nine international caps came against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in August 2019.

McKinley was ready to move back to Ireland and with his wife being a local girl, Rainey was a natural choice.

“Obviously these are unprecedented times and so many people - no matter what your trade is - are compromised at the moment,” he said.

“My wife Cordelia is from Bellaghy near Magherafelt and I think after nearly 10 years of being abroad it’s not even a certain thing having a rugby contract and being a player at the moment.

“I’ve taken stock and have come back to some sort of familiar ground so that’s why we’ve decided to come back.

“Rainey is the local club and my first ever senior game was back in 2008 and was with UCD and against Rainey,” McKinley added.

“I’ve heard good things about them and to coach them and be part of their coaching team there is good in terms of starting off locally and you can’t get more local than this club, which is just 10 minutes down the road.

“Now that I’ve seen the club and seen the development there, it’s definitely a hub for community life and is pretty impressive.”

McKinley fell into Rainey’s lap, explaining: “I literally just showed up a couple of weeks ago at training; I watched a training and session and went and just spoke to the coaches afterwards to see if they needed a hand with anything.

“It’s always good to get back to a local club and start where you were almost formed when out of school and playing at club level, this is as good a time as ever just to do something like this.

“I’ve always had a fascination with coaching; whenever I initially retired at 21 I knew that that was something I wanted to do,” he added.

“Playing and coaching are two completely different things but I really love the development side of things.

“Since I went back to playing professionally from 2014-15 onwards I’ve taken a team in every club I’ve been at and when I knew when playing opportunities weren’t coming in the last six months with Treviso, I worked with the Benetton Academy.”

As well as coaching with John Andrews at club level McKinley will also coach with him at Ballymena academy.

Rainey Director of Rugby Brian Smyth is delighted McKinley has signed for the Magherafelt club.

“He is a real unassuming lad that just wants to give something back, it is just great for us, we’re very impressed with him he is a level four coach,” said Smyth,.

“Ian had a great career, he is itching to get started and he’ll start tonight, he’s looking forward to it and we’re glad to have him.”