Dykes: ‘Ollie is a hard man to say no to’

For those fans who remember watching Gavin Dykes in action, they’ll have memories of a tough-tackling, no-nonsense defender who typically wore his heart on his sleeve.

Some might say he was a player opposition fans loved to hate, although as he points out himself, some of his own supporters didn’t like him either.

But it’s pretty clear that the Sligo man has lost none of his passion and love for the game as he prepares for a new challenge as assistant manager to Ollie Horgan, replacing Paul Hegarty who departed after last season.

Dykes recently left the managerial hot-seat at Warrenpoint Town to link up again with Harps, a team he has captained and managed before. He was also assistant manager for a short time in 2016 before leaving to take over at Ballinamallard.

“I worked with Ollie before, five years ago,” Dykes said. “When the phone call came, I met him. He’s a hard man to say no to.
“It’s going to be a challenge, we know that. There has been a big turnover of players but I think we have recruited well and hopefully we’ll have a good season.”

Dykes’ career may have been centred around the Irish League in recent times, but he’s well tuned in to what’s happening within the League of Ireland. He’s been a regular at The Showgrounds in Sligo and at Finn Park too, and is relishing the chance to be back involved again.

“I know what’s going on. The league is in good shape and it’s got more professional,” he said. “When you think of all the teams that are full time now, it’s a huge challenge for the part-time sides.

“My own hometown club Sligo Rovers are full-time with a budget of €1.8m this year. So when you compare that to what Finn Harps have, it’s a challenge, but it’s one we are looking forward to.”

He added: “I was up the North and enjoyed my time up there. But when the opportunity came to work with Ollie, that was the big thing. I know what he’s like.

“He has overachieved here for the last few years. He’s lost a lot of players but when it comes to hard work and honesty, he’ll get that out of the players and hopefully I can help him do that.”

Asked if he had a glance down the fixtures list to see when Harps would be coming up against Sligo Rovers, Dykes said he’s preferring to concentrate on the opening series of games.

“I looked at the first one, and the second one to see if we could get a good start,” he said. “We’ve a home game the first weekend against Drogheda which I think could be good for us and then you’re away to UCD. So hopefully we’ll get a few points on the board early and we can start positively.

“There’s a lot of experience there. There’s a good bunch of lads there. They’re very honest. “It’s up to us to get the best out of them. There are a lot of new lads there, especially the foreign lads who don’t know the league. It’s a difficult league, and we don’t underestimate that, but we’re looking forward to it.”