Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Star that was on the rise to Border double
BACK in our issue of November 29, 2011, Crumlin Star were still a relatively unknown entity, however the arrival of Eamon Hawkins’ team at that season’s Border Cup final was to change all that.
The then 1B outfit had already proved themselves more than a match for the Premier Division’s big-hitters, with Newington and Albert Foundry among their prized scalps in early rounds, while goals from Paul Brown and Paul Mclarnon saw them defeat Newcastle in the second semi-final.
However, after having witnessed their final opponents Islandmagee blow Newington away in the previous Tuesday night’s last four tie, Hawkins (above) knew his team would be facing a side on top of their game.
“Getting to the final of the Border Cup will really put us on the map,” said the Crumlin Star boss.
“We are kind of new to these types of games having just been promoted and we’re doing well as a club and giving ourselves chances to win trophies. That’s all we can really ask for.
“But Islandmagee will be a hard team to beat.
“I watched them the other night and I must say they were pretty daunting. But we’ve nothing to fear, we’ll be giving them respect but we’ll be giving it our all to win it. We’ve worked hard to get there so we might as well give it a good lash.”
Followers of the Ardoyne-based club will well remember that
Hawkins’ Star not only went on to defeat Islandmagee 4-3 on penalties after the game finished
2-2, but then retained the trophy the following season with a 2-1 victory over Rathfriland.