Soccer Post - Junior Football

Villagers eager to emulate last season
Junior Football News - Author: Administrator (Posted 1 year, 2 months, 4 weeks, 2 days, 9 hours, 49 minutes ago)

Loughgall manager Niall Currie (right) celebrates with goalkeeper Marc Robinson
LOUGHGALL’S swashbuckling march to a historic clean sweep of intermediate silverware last season was a feat some fans believed could never be bettered.
Yet if Niall Currie’s Ladbrokes.com Championship pace-setters land the second tier’s top prize come May, it will surely be the Armagh club’s finest achievement to date.
The Villagers’ 3-1 defeat of old foes Coagh United at Hagan Park on Saturday – incidentally the club’s seventh straight win – saw them regain pole position in the race for the title, usurping their hosts at the summit in the process.
But it’s the stellar cast who lag behind the table-toppers who bear testament to the club’s scintillating season so far.
Last year, Loughgall wrapped up the First Division title along with the Bob Radcliffe, Mid-Ulster, WKD Intermediate and Carnegie League cups to become the first team in the Irish League’s modern history to win every competition they entered – outside the senior ranks.
But simply landing this year’s championship in the company of Portadown, DC, Larne, Armagh City and Limavady amongst others would surely top even that.
With the league entering the final straight, there is still a long and treacherous way to go, but Currie’s side are, at worst, in contention and at best, favourites to go all the way.
Currie, typically, is refusing to look too far ahead of himself but concedes his side’s campaign so far has been a source of great pride for everyone associated with the club.
“We are just over the moon with where we are in the league at the minute, we’ve made a real fight of it and we’ve had a real rough time squad-wise with injuries and things like that,” he said.
“We’ve a very small squad now and we’re just going to stick together and see how we go.
“We were under no illusions, we talked about it during pre-season how tough it was going to be but for us to be as competitive as we have been with those five Premier League teams coming down into our league. But staying in front of them and challenging, I think it’s a great achievement.
“We’ve just got to try and see if we can keep it going and stay in there and keep fighting.”
Loughgall are the Championship’s in-form side, winning 11 of their last 12 games in all competitions.
Currie’s side also boast the best head-to-head record of all the title pretenders, including a league double over Portadown.
The Villagers boss has singled out his side’s remaining clash with Ballinamallard, and their mouth-watering trip to Donegal Celtic at the end of the season, as key dates in his club’s quest for glory.
“We’ve beaten Portadown twice, we’ve beaten Coagh twice, we’ve to play Ballinamallard again, we beat them away and we beat DC at home,” added Currie.
“We’ve still to go away to DC and we’ve Ballinamallard at home. DC is the second last game of the season and we’ve Ballinamallard in a few weeks so those games will tell a big tale.
“But to be honest, we’re just delighted to be in the position we’re in.
“Our expectations this year went down a brave bit after last year. The reality of the situation was, with those five teams coming into our league, nobody gave us a chance.
“So I’m very proud of my players and as I said to the boys, we’ve just got to keep our heads down and we have the Mid-Ulster Cup final to look forward to in a couple of weeks’ time too.
“Two cup finals and a great challenge in the league has been a fantastic season so far for us.”