Coffey trades Cobh for Connecticut

By Gary Culbert

Nenagh native Barry Coffey is taking his talents across the Atlantic Ocean after completing his transfer from League of Ireland first division side Cobh Ramblers to Hartford Athletic.

Founded in 2018, Hartford Athletic is a club located just a two-hour drive North of New York city, in the state of Connecticut. They are the only professional soccer team in the state and get average attendances of just under 5,000 fans at their home games in the Trinity Health Stadium. This will be a big change to the less than 1000 fans that the former Nenagh AFC youth played in front of last season!

Hartford play in the Eastern Conference of the United Soccer League (USL) Championship, the second tier of professional men's soccer, below the MLS.

Much like the League of Ireland (LOI), the competition runs from early March to late October. However, that is where the similarities between the two leagues end.

The Eastern Conference is a 13-team league consisting of 30 round-robin games, six fewer than the LOI first division regular season. 25 games will be against teams in the Eastern Conference, while five will be against teams in the Western Conference.

With Cobh, Barry Coffey's longest journey was the dreaded four-hour bus journey to Donegal to play Finn Harps; now he will instead have to get used to airport lounges and flying to most away games, with his longest journey against Eastern teams being a five-hour flight south to Miami, Florida.

The top 8 Eastern teams progress to the play-offs, where they are joined by the top 8 teams of the Western Conference. In 2025, Hartford made it to the quarter finals (last 8) of the play-offs and also won the cup.

Coffey is the fifteenth and most recent player added to the Hartford squad this pre-season. He becomes the twelfth different nationality within that group of 15 players: 3 Americans, 2 Congolese and one each from Jamaica, Gambia, Guinea, Argentina, Sierra Leone, Cuba, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Brazil.

Barry Coffey's new head coach is Brendan Burke, whose connection to Ireland is a short stint as a player for Sligo Rovers back in 2006. His playing career does not have much to show, whilst his managerial career consists mostly of jobs in the USA. Burke has achieved a total of 44 points in both of his two years in charge and is the sixth head coach in the club's short history.

He pointed to both Coffey’s background and mentality as key factors in the signing saying: “Barry’s goal contribution record speaks for itself. His upbringing at Celtic, recent form in Ireland, and relentless pursuit of improvement and team success made him a great fit for our group.”

Having only been around for five years, Harford Athletics fifth place in the Eastern Conference last season and subsequent spot in the play-offs is quite impressive.

Even better was their Jägermeister Cup final win last season, which secured the club's first ever piece of silverware.

Coffey is in the prime of his life and is making the most of his talent to see the world and try new things. We look forward to following his journey closely each week in this publication.

Players on the Move

Jack Brady’s move to Treaty United brings the goalkeeper closer than ever to his boyhood club, Lough Derg FC.

Having been second choice keeper for premier division side Drogheda United last year, the 29-year-old will be a great role model for the younger players in the squad, and a leader on the pitch too. Brady also tells a good story about balancing sport and studies as a young athlete.

The Ballina men is in for a much busier 2026 however, as Treaty United look set for a difficult season, having not made any major signings to replace Lee Devitt’s goals.

Mark Walsh will continue as club captain for 2026 while fellow Nenagh man Niko Kozlowski, has left the Limerick side and is currently without a club.

Nenagh Celtic’s second most famous son, Cian Carmody, made his Treaty senior debut against Ringmahon Rangers recently. The big centre half recorded an assist as they bowed out of the Munster Senior Cup.

Former Nenagh AFC goalkeeper Dylan Ashman was on the bench for Treaty United in the Munster Senior Cup. The 17-year-old was also involved in the FAI schools U18 international assessments recently.

League of Ireland Preview

Brody Lee’s exciting career will continue with Cork City this season in the League of Ireland first division.

Fresh from his appearance at the Under-17 World Cup, Roscrea’s most famous footballing son will fight for the opportunity to start alongside players of the calibre of Seanie Maguire, who recently extended his contract on Leeside to much relief from the Rebel Army.

The early signs in pre-season are good; Lee got ninety minutes in both of Cork’s Munster Senior Cup games in January and also started in one of Cork’s three friendlies.

Cork City will start their League of Ireland campaign with a home game against Treaty United on Friday, 13th February at 7.45pm in Turner's Cross, Cork.

Senior Women

Roscrea’s brightest young female footballer, 16-year-old Molly Kirwan, has signed for Wexford FC senior women’s team. The playmaker divided her time between the under-19 and senior teams last season, but it looks now that she will be a big part of the senior plans this coming season.

Another Roscrea youngter, Ceola Bergin will continue with Galway United this season, looking to build on her tally of five goals in her last five games, and also trying to improve on Galway’s impressive third place finish last season.

Isabel Ryan started for the Athlone Town senior team in a recent 3-0 friendly win over Waterford.

Ballymackey’s Clodagh Daly captained the Treaty United senior team in a recent friendly.

At just 18-years-old it is a significant achievement for the former Ballymackey centre half.

Daly will be joined in the squad this season by Knigh’s Grace Ehinger, who will look to break into the senior squad following an impressive season for the under 19s last campaign.

Following her League of Ireland academy tier one win with Shamrock Rovers under-17s last season, Roscrea’s Kaitlyn Delahunty has reportedly made the ambitious leap to senior football with Peamount United.

Under 19 Women

Former NTSFL players Lily Anne O’Meara, Ava Neary, Ella Carey, and Megan O’Reilly will all continue with Treaty United this season.

Under 17 Women

Kilruane native, Rosaleen O’Leary, has made the step up from the Athlone Town academy to the Shelbourne FC academy.

The former Nenagh AFC player was in Abbottstown before Christmas for Republic of Ireland U15 trials and was invited back for further assessment to Athlone on Sunday.

It may be a different sport, but Rosaleen is further proof that when it comes to sporting talent, the apple does not fall far from the tree: her father, Mark O’Leary, who won a senior All-Ireland hurling medal for Tipperary in 2001.

Former Killavilla star Zoe Nash also attended the assessment in Athlone, and she has been busy in pre-season with Wexford too, playing in friendlies alongside her Roscrea teammates Mya Steele and Lucy Moloney.

Mioda O’Shea and Ciara Austin will continue with Treaty United this year and have been joined by a host of local talent following a successful Gaynor Cup campaign with the NTSFL.

Emma Neary follows in her sister’s footsteps, departing the hugely successful Lough Derg underage setup for Treaty United.

Much like with Rosaleen O’Leary, her talent too runs in the family: her father, Martin, won 5 FAI Junior Cups with Fairview Rangers in his day and currently coaches the Lough Derg men’s team in the Limerick District League.

Hailee Tanner and Callie Cullinane join Treaty from the sleeping giant of North Tipperary football, Nenagh Celtic while Ellen Meaney and Jenna McSherry follow the same path that Grace Ehinger carved from Knigh to Limerick.

Killavilla academy star Kayleigh Delaney will continue with Athlone Town this season. The 15-year-old will be joined by more NTSFL talent; Knigh United’s Josephine Kennedy makes the step up, as does Lough Derg’s exciting left-footed Amelia Weir. A left-footed 10 may remind you of a certain Argentinian footballer, and she plays like him too; Weir is certainly one to keep an eye on this year.

Former Killavilla United and Nenagh Celtic player Lucy Hayes has moved to Klub Kildare for the 2026 season.

Under 17 Boys

Moneygall’s Christopher Bahon has moved from CK United to Treaty United.

Under 15 Boys

Harry Jones will play his second season for Bohemians. The striker from Moneygall has not nailed down as first-choice number 9 for Dublin's Originals last season, but he is slowly making inroads on that assignment.

Former BT Harps underage goalkeeper, Cathal Lillis, has moved from Athlone Town to Shelbourne.