James McKenna has taken the decision to call time on his career and the Mallards captain admits that it was a tough one to make after ten great years at Ballinamallard in which he has seen the club rise to the heights of the Premiership.
“I had decided two years ago that it was time to quit and obviously I had been talked around but I just have a re-occurring injury in my neck that is causing me severe pain and there comes a point when you say to yourself that enough is enough. It was a hard decision to make because I loved the way the season finished under Harry and I loved playing for him but at some stage I had to think about me own health,” said McKenna.
McKenna walks away though with plenty of great memories over his decade with the club.
“When I do look back in a couple of years it will only be with fond memories.
“I never thought I would have been there ten years. I always doubted that I was good enough to play in the Premiership and those doubts would have nagged at me a long time. I know I’m not everybody’s cup of tea but I managed to hang in there and I got to play for three great managers,” he said.
And he also went on to captain the club.
“That was a great honour, there is not many people get the opportunity to captain a side in the Irish Premiership. I captained the side quite a bit for Whitey in the final couple of years when other people were injured and then when Gavin came in he made me captain and it was a great honour. “I think they have appointed a great captain in Richard Clarke and I text him and wished him all the best,” he stated.
So, what were the stand out memories of his time at the club?
“I would have to say that the year we won the Championship and then the year after when we finished fifth in the Premiership, that  was unreal. That two year period when we were on such a high is the abiding memory for me.We were all best mates, we did everything together and we didn’t know how good a team we had. It is only when you see where the likes of Mark Stafford and Chrissie Curran are now, they are top players at the biggest clubs in the league, that you appreciate how good the players were that we had in our squad. It was brilliant times and I hope everybody at the club enjoyed watching it as much as we did playing. It was the best time in my life in football,” he explained.
McKenna had the chance to play with many good players at Ferney Park but for him Curran was the stand out.
If I had to pick one I would have to say that Chrissie Curran was my favourite. There were great players; I loved Mark Stafford, he was a leader, I got the chance to play with McCabe in the latter years of his career and that was something that I always hoped to do. Mark McConkey is another, there was so many good players but if I had to pick one it would be Chrissie, he was on a different level. He should have had a long career in England,” he stated.
In terms of his toughest opponents, he added: “The hardest opponent to play against was big Jordan Owens, he was the one you never wanted to play against. Also, Stevie Lowry, for those couple of years when he was at Coleraine he was outstanding.”
McKenna’s last game may have finished with relegation back to the Championship but he is in no doubt that Harry McConkey is the right man to lead them forward.
“Harry is the only man,” he said. “He has brilliant man-management and those last eight weeks of the season he made people feel that they were ten foot tall and that’s just a life skill, not even a football skill. It was a pleasure to play for him and I wish I was a couple of years younger so that I could learn from him for a couple of years. Anybody who is considering whether you should or you shouldn’t come to Ballinamallard, Harry McConkey is the reason you should go.”