DOLLLY IN XMAS APPEAL

Mals boss wants seventh spot by December

Carmichael, left, who has brought former Donegal Celtic coach Packie Logan in alongside him.

“Our aim is still the same, to get to seventh in the league for Christ- That’s our first goal and then we’ll look to push on and anything after that is a bonus.

“We’ve been good in patches this season and poor in others, especially in the cup games.

“We’ve had a mixed season so far and there are games that we should never have lost, but first of all we need to get the old hot-headedness out of our game and keep 11 players on the pitch. I haven’t had a full strength team since the start of the season, with ones on holidays and the couple we have had sent off but we should be close to full strength soon.”

Carmichael took over at the Shore Road club last season and admits his debut campaign in the Amateur League was a bit of a culture shock.

Over the summer, therefore, he set about rebuilding his squad with the likes of Pearse Mcauley, Rory Mccready, Eddie Begley and James Begley coming on board, while he made a conscious decision to lower the average age at the club, delibermas. ately injecting youth into the ranks. With his team picking up four points from 15 it’s been a tough start but he is confident things will improve.

“Looking from last season we got our eyes opened,” said Carmichael, “but this season I would say we would have one of the youngest squads in the Amateur League and a lot of the new players from last year now know what to expect.”