 It reaped immediate rewards, as they were the first team from the West of Ireland to win a national cup at any juvenile level, in what was their first year of existence, when they defeated St Josephs of Dublin in the historic under 17 final, in Terryland Park.In July 2001, he was appointed as manager of Sligo Rovers, but never really managed to bring any real success to the club on the playing field despite a lot of hard work both on and off the pitch that also saw him work on the commercial side of the club looking to bring much needed funds into the club.As he had done in Galway O'Riordan set up the Sligo Rovers Youth Policy which has since produced many players that have gone on to play for the Rovers at 1st Team level.