Conyard reflects

CLIFTON Conyard knows that his side’s scalp is highly sought after and he relishes it.

The Ashford Rovers boss has been instrumental in the Ballinalea Park outfit’s trophy cabinet multiplying in recent years and he has no intentions of slowing down as his side prepare to begin battle on many, many fronts this term.

They were the stand-out side in the top flight after a disastrous start but the Andy McEvoy Premier champions fell short in the knock-out competitions, something Conyard is hoping to improve on in 2018/19. Despite not lifting a cup, proving to the best side over a league campaign is always extremely pleasing for any manager.

“It was a great season for us. We won the league after losing our first game 6-1 at home then to go unbeaten in league for the remainder of the season was unreal. To go to St. Peter’s on a Friday night and not only win but to win 8-2, to go to Tallaght and win 2-1, to go to Carnew and win 2-0 and then to save the best until last; to go to Newtown and find ourselves 2-0 down after 15 minutes and our chance of winning the league drifting away yet we pulled it back and won 5-3 – the only team to beat Newtown, Carnew, Tallaght and St. Peter’s in their back yard.

“Then we go onto the Park Orient Locomotive and Dynamo Dublin – a lot said they weren’t up to the Premier standard but when you have to assemble a squad to travel to Phoenix Park or Blanch for an 11 o clock kick-off on a Sunday morning, it’s a challenge in itself and credit to the lads. It’ll be hard done again.”

They may be the team to beat in the league but they want to prove themselves again in the cup competitions having reigned supreme in the Wicklow Cup in recent years.

“How do we improve? We can’t improve in the league but we would like to win a cup that the club have never won and look forward to giving the Wicklow Cup another shot.

“We got knocked out of the Wicklow Cup by a young, talented Glencormac United side who took