Moate All Whites confirm new manager

Moate All Whites have appointed Liam McNeill as the new manager of their senior football team, and he will be joined by fellow Roscommon man Noel Galvin.

McNeill succeeds Longford native John Twaddle, who guided Moate to Westmeath intermediate championship success in 2020, when the All Whites defeated Tang in the county final.

In Moate’s first year back up at senior level (2021), they were very unlucky not to reach the knockout stages. A contentious Caulry penalty forced a draw in their last group game which saw Moate lose out on scoring difference.

Moate’s championship form in 2022 didn’t reach the heights of last year, though they did secure promotion to Division 1 of the All County Football League along with Tyrrellspass.

Twaddle’s last game in charge was the Westmeath junior 2 football final in which Moate’s second team edged out Coralstown/Kinnegad.

“We welcome Liam and Noel to our club and wish them all best for the upcoming campaign,” Moate All Whites posted online, with the club also stating that further appointments to the backroom team will be made in due course.

Moate are set to compete in Section B of the 2023 Westmeath SFC, where they will be joined by Garrycastle, Athlone, Tang, Mullingar Shamrocks and intermediate champions Shandonagh.

It’s a case of swapping one Westmeath senior club for another for McNeill, who has been in charge of Coralstown/Kinnegad for the last few years. Under McNeill's guidance, Coralstown/Kinnegad reached the Westmeath SFC semi-finals last year, but they were eliminated by Killucan at the quarter-final stage in 2022.

McNeill, who runs a family business in Roscommon town, led Roscommon Gaels to the 2019 senior football final against Pádraig Pearses when the latter club lifted the Fahey Cup for the first time.