Alan Costello CT

 

Alan Costello: Quiet Builder, Relentless Competitor

Some managers arrive with noise and bravado. Others build quietly—brick by brick—until a team suddenly emerges with steel, structure and belief. Alan Costello belongs firmly in the latter category.

The Hollymount/Carramore native first drew wider notice during his spell with Tinahely. In 2020, he guided the Wicklow club to its first-ever county title, a breakthrough that marked him out as a shaper of squads rather than a seeker of headlines. What followed was a rise built on development, not drama.

Costello soon stepped into the inter-county scene with Wicklow’s under-20s. Over two seasons, his group did more than compete—they claimed a league development title, ran Dublin to two points in championship action and produced a statement win over Offaly. Where others might dwell on frustrations, Alan speaks of those seasons as formative, not fraught.

That grounding led to a role with the Wicklow senior panel, where he acted as selector and interim manager. Football, he says, is his passion rather than his burden. Yet his career as a school principal continues to guide his decisions. Inter-county management, with its unforgiving schedule, remains an ambition stored carefully rather than chased carelessly. For now, club football provides the balance he values.

His managerial journey has wound from Tinahely across county borders to Tullow, where he steered the Carlow club to an intermediate final. Opportunities tended to arise not through fanfare, but through conversations, connections and shared values. Avondale became the next stop, helped along by familiar names from his county days, figures like Zach Cullen and Conor Byrne on the selection committee who believed he was the right fit. The commute made sense, the squad was ambitious and the objective clear: restore senior status.

What has come to define Costello’s teams is resilience. Any notion of softness has long since been stripped away. Over the past two years, he has focused on building belief, bonding dressing rooms and sharpening minds for pressure moments.

Saturday’s county final again showcased those qualities.

Avondale faced Hollywood in the intermediate decider and met a punishing first-half wind. Nine wides told the story of dominance without reward, and they trailed by two at the break—“mixed feelings,” Costello noted afterwards. Hollywood winning the toss scuppered plans to finish with the breeze, but his side adjusted, blending a running game with measured foot passing.

The closing moments brought drama and uproar. Hollywood looked to have grabbed a winning goal, the crowd roaring as the net rattled—until the referee’s raised arm signaled  the play dead. Costello had spotted the infringement immediately. With just one play left and the hooter imminent, his players showed composure. They worked the ball patiently and fisted over the equaliser. Relief and survival came in the same breath.

A replay in two weeks now awaits. For Alan Costello, it is not a let-off, but the next step in the journey. His sides don’t unravel. They review, regroup and return. And that mindset—more than any moment of controversy or glory—is the thread that runs through his management career.