Buncrana Hearts confirm Gary Duffy as Head of Coaching and Phil Brady as assistant

Phil Brady and Gary Duffy at Buncrana Hearts

placeholder image — Phil Brady and Gary Duffy at Buncrana Hearts

Buncrana Hearts are delighted to confirm Gary Duffy as our new Head of Coaching and Phil Brady as his assistant.

Duffy is Uefa A licence holder who brings a wealth of experience to the role having begun his coaching career at the age of 16 working with our under-age teams in a very successful period for the club.

He managed the Inishowen U18s guiding them to an all-Ireland semi-final which they lost 2-1 to Cork in Turners Cross.

From there it was on to Derry City U-17s, where he spent seven years working with John Quigg and Eddie Seydak. In that period the young Derry boys won four Foyle Cups and the Airtricity League Shield.

Duffy returned to the club firstly in a playing role before taking over as Senior team manager and in his second season he won both the Ulster Junior Cup and Clubman Shirts League Cup.

Buncrana welcomed back Phil Brady to the club in his role as Assistant Head of coaching. Brady is originally from Coventry and holds a FA Level 2 badge and has a wealth of experience in coaching. He began his coaching career in Coventry working with underage for two years before moving to Ireland in 2007.

Brady very quickly got involved in coaching firstly with Derry club Don Boscos were he achieved much success with the U-14s and then the U-15s who won back to back Northern Ireland Champion of Champions Tournament.

He was invited by then Coventry City manager Iain Dowie & his assistant Tim Flowers to become chief scout for the club covering the North of the Island of Ireland. During his period with the Sky Blues Phil sent current Hearts goalkeeper Rory Kelly on trial.

When Dowie and Flowers moved to Queens Park Rangers the call came for Phil to follow and once again Phil came calling at Castle Park and a young Jonny Bonner headed off to London on trial. Phil himself ended up at the Hearts and became assistant manager before taking over before work commitments meant he had to give up his role.

"I'm absolutely delighted to be back at the club and look forward to helping the club achieve success in the future,” he said. “My role is to work alongside Gary and implement proper coaching methods right through from our nursery programme to Senior level. I'm currently working on producing a Player Development Plan for the club and taking in some under-age training sessions".