Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAXIE SWAIN DETERMINED CRUMBLE..
By
Downpatrick aren’t doomed after all. Six opening league defeats was an ominous start to the new campaign for the Rosconnor men, but four points from their last six suggests it was premature to write them off. Freefalling Malachians badly need a win. Three league defeats on the bounce, and six from the last eight, has dented confidence and undermined an encouraging start to the new season.
2014/15 season and spent three seasons in the bottom tier before climbing up into 2B last year. Stiobhard was proud of how they fought for a fourth place finish last season, particularly after a bad start and with the squad in transition – but he has his eyes on 2A now.
He feels his squad is currently reaping the benefits of changes they made two summers ago, both in the background with two new youth teams added, and on the pitch with the young players he blooded now a lot more streetwise to the demands of the division.
“We sort of restructured the club during pre-season of last year and last year was a bit of a settling in period for us because there was an awful lot of changes off and on the field,” he said.
“And we actually didn’t do too bad considering we were rebuilding the whole team. I think we went on a 12-game unbeaten run last year and we just narrowly missed out on promotion after a horrendous start.
“So the foundations were there last year, and it was just a matter of bringing in a couple of quality players to add to it.
“Our average age is the early 20s and a good lot of the players have been with us maybe three or four years and they are starting to find maturity now.
“They know what it’s like, they’ve been around the course and it’s just a matter of keeping them grounded.
“But ultimately, our main aim is to try and get out of 2B because it is a terrible league to get out of, it feels like we have been in 2C and 2B for an eternity considering the quality of team we have had over the last few years.
“As I say, we’ve fallen that wee bit short but this year, it’s promotion we’re after and hopefully we can cause a shock to the invincibles, Willowbank.” If that is to happen, Stiobhard acknowledges that Shamrock will need a near perfect season, with so little room for error.
“It’s just about doing the simple things right,” he added. “Preparation is key, we need to focus on games and we’ve put an awful lot of emphasis this year on our training and if the training is good and the preparation is good, then that momentum carries on until a Saturday.”
While they’re unbeaten in the league, Shamrock have come up short in the cups, crashing 3-0 to Harryville Homers in the Junior Shield on Saturday, while they were dismantled 8-1 in the Junior Cup by Tummery Athletic in Fermanagh a few weeks ago.
But the Shamrock chief says this season is all about picking their fights wisely.
“At the end of the day, the cups aren’t our priority,” said Stiobhard, who has added ex-player Conall Mcnally to his backroom team, alongside Ta Mclarnon, who has been with him since day one, and Brian O’neill.
“Promotion is our number one target this year and everything is geared towards that.”