Friends Reunited?

The transfer window is fast-approaching and the rumour mill is getting into gear. Waterford’s promising start to the 2024 campaign fizzled out badly after a very disappointing July, but all indications suggest we’ll see a busier and much better window this year. New manager John Coleman will have come with demands and assurances to keep the Blues safely in the Premier Division and looking up the table towards possible European qualification. Adding a leader like Seamus Conneely would be a fantastic start.

The first major activity of the summer has already started with Shamrock Rovers confirming the signing of striker John McGovern from Dungannon Swifts yesterday. Like any new signing, the 22-year-old from Newry won’t be eligible to play until the 1st of July, but Rovers were keen to get business done early and have paid an undisclosed fee to Dungannon for his services. This is just the beginning of what we can expect to be a decisive window for every Premier Division club.

As soon as Accrington Stanley announced that Seamus Conneely was being released earlier this month, rumours began to emerge that he could be reunited with his former boss, John Coleman, who had been appointed as Waterford manager just days previously. Neil O’Riordan, a close contact of the player, wrote immediately in the Irish Sun that the pair could be linking up at a third club. Reports in Accrington have also linked the player with a reunion with the manager who signed him a decade ago.

Coleman took Conneely to Accrington Stanley in January 2015 having managed him at Sligo Rovers the previous summer. Originally a full back, Seamus has spent a decade as a leader at the heart of Accrington’s midfield. He has made 378 appearances in total for The Reds in ten-and-a-half seasons, placing him second in the club’s all-time appearances list. The Lancashire club’s current manager, John Doolan, described Seamus recently as “the ultimate professional” and fans are gutted to see their captain depart. 

 

Conneely with his two sons at last summer's testimonial match

 

While he turns 37 in July, that still makes Conneely three months younger than the exceptionally-fit Waterford skipper Pádraig Amond. He was in the top three League Two midfielders this season in the category of ‘counter-pressing recoveries’ – a statistic that measures winning the ball back within five seconds of the opponent receiving possession. Conneely’s energetic style saw him averaging more than ten of these recoveries per ninety minutes during his 28 appearances this season. 

It would be more of a shock if Coleman DIDN’T try to bring his stalwart midfielder to Waterford to provide an experienced spine to the team along with Amond in attack and Andy Boyle in defence. John Caulfield will surely be interested in taking another wily veteran back to the west, but all reports suggest the RSC is the more likely destination for the former Ireland Under 21 international.

Technically, Conneely is third-generation Irish, but that really doesn’t describe the fluent Gaeilgeoir. Born in Lambeth to the children of Irish emigrants, Seamus says his first football memory is as a five-year-old watching Ray Houghton score against Italy in the 1994 World Cup. At ten years of age, his family uprooted from London to move to the tiny village of Camus in the Connemara Gaeltacht. The culture shock was even bigger as all his school lessons were now taught through Irish and the same was true for everything from church to sports activities. He says he became fluent quickly, but would be rusty speaking it nowadays.

His football career began with Mervue at schoolboys level before moving to Galway United under Tony Cousins. He made his debut as a 19-year-old against Shamrock Rovers in March 2008 and played a total of 85 League of Ireland games at right back over three seasons. He faced Waterford just once – in a 1-0 FAI Cup win for Galway in June of his first year.

 

On the ball for Accrington Stanley

Then came his first crack at England when Gary Speed signed him for Sheffield United. Unfortunately, by the time he was eligible to play in January 2011, Speed had taken the Wales job and the youngster wasn’t given a chance in the first team by subsequent managers Micky Adams or Danny Wilson. Conneely captained the reserves and had a loan spell with Alfreton Town in the Conference, but Sheffield never really worked out for him apart from meeting his future wife, Lauren, there. 

Sligo Rovers manager Ian Baraclough jumped at the opportunity to bring Conneely back to the west when he was released by United in the summer of 2012. Now 24, he was an important addition to Sligo’s defence as they won the League of Ireland that season. He added an FAI Cup-winners medal in 2013 and the Setanta Cup in 2014. Of course, from June to September ‘14, he worked under John Coleman and that relationship was to be the key to his future. Conneely played 59 league games in two-and-a-half years for Sligo (with current Blues assistant manager Danny Ventre as a teammate) before Coleman brought him to Accrington in January 2015.

Enormously popular with fans, Seamus will go down as one of Stanley’s greatest legends. His decade there has been pretty evenly split between five seasons in League One and five-and-a-half in League Two. He lifted the League Two trophy as skipper in 2018 when John Coleman’s side won the division ahead of rivals Luton Town. He was voted their Player of the Year in League One in the ‘20/’21 season and wore the captain’s armband for nine seasons. Accrington gave their hero a testimonial match last summer against Blackburn Rovers last July and, in January of this year, he fulfilled a lifelong ambition by playing at Anfield in the FA Cup Third Round tie against Liverpool.

Conneely has achieved a remarkable amount in a sterling career and the influence that has been crucial to it has been that of John Coleman. We may very well see them link up one more time in a move that would make so much sense for Waterford.