Paddy McCourt: Former NI winger named Glentoran’s assistant manager

Former Northern Ireland international Paddy McCourt has joined Irish Premiership side Glentoran as Declan Devine’s assistant coach.

The 40-year-old spent eight years at Derry City as a player, academy manager and technical director.

McCourt departed the Brandywell in January to pursue a “fresh challenge” a month after having a sexual assault conviction overturned.

He was suspended by Derry when he was charged with the assault in February 2022.

Glentoran manager Devine, who replaced Warren Feeney as manager in March, said he was “happy and excited” about McCourt’s appointment.

“I’ve known and worked with Paddy for a long time and can guarantee Glentoran supporters that we’ve appointed a real asset for the club,” Devine said.

“Paddy is a great football man with a wealth of knowledge and experience in a full-time environment.”

McCourt, who scored two goals in 18 Northern Ireland caps, said he was “looking forward to playing my part in bringing success back to the club”.

“I’m very excited to be coming to Glentoran, by anyone’s standards a huge club in Irish football,” the former Celtic, Brighton, Luton Town and Derry City winger added.

“I’ve worked with Declan a lot over the years and also I worked with Windy [Paul Millar, director at Glentoran] for a while at Glenavon, so I know them well and they didn’t have to sell Glentoran too hard to me.”

McCourt will join a coaching team of Devine, Tim McCann and Elliott Morris at Glentoran, who finished fifth in the Irish Premiership last season.