MICK Hyland has been announced as Round Tower’s new senior football manager for the 2015 season, taking over the reins from Caimin Keane and his team of Paul Burke, Tom Corrigan and Gordon Gallagher.
Speaking about the new role, Hyland said he is “really looking forward to meeting the players and starting the role” in the coming week.
“There is a tremendous professional attitude within Dublin football and this is reflected in the players and this is something I’ll really enjoy working with. I’ll give it 100% and look forward to the challenge of Division 2 football and the Dublin senior football championship.”
Hyland is a native of Monasterevin in Kildare, and played adult football with his native club for 26 years, winning a senior championship in 1977. He went on to play intercounty minor, Under-21 and senior football with Kildare, notably reaching a Leinster Under-21 final in 1980 but lost to a Dublin team containing the likes of Barney Rock, John O’Leary and Ciaran Duff.
From 1980 to 1991 he played senior football with the Lilywhites and won two O’Byrne Cups and reached a league final under the stewardship of Mick O’Dwyer in 1991.
Since then, Hyland has accrued a vast amount of managerial experience. He was a trainer and selector with the Kildare Under-21 teams that played Dublin in Leinster Finals in 2003 and 2005.
He then went on to manage Ballymore Eustace in Kildare and reached an intermediate county final. He picked up experience of the Dublin scene with St Mary’s of Saggart in 2008 and 2009, earning promotion to Division 1 and reaching the semi-final of the Dublin SFC, beating UCD and St Vincent’s.
From there, he took charge of Gracefield in Offaly midseason in 2010 and helped them avoid relegation before he trained Rathangan in 2011 and 2012, where they reached two county semi-finals.
Most recently, he has been manager of the Carlow Under-21s in 2013 and 2014. They’ve had the misfortune to draw the Dubs in the first round for both championships.
