Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BARRY WOULD LOVE TO TAKE IT AS REDS
Drawing Cliftonville is on Mckervey’s wishlist
BARRY MCKERVEY declared “bring on the big boys” after Crumlin Star cruised through to the fifth round of the Irish Cup with a 4-0 win over Shankill United.
The Star winger opened the scoring at the Hammer on Saturday, before Gary Lavery continued his recent hot streak in front of goal with a hat-trick.
The victory confirmed Star’s place in the hat for the next round when the Irish League’s big guns enter the fray, throwing up the prospect of a glamour tie for Paul Trainor’s men and their west Belfast counterparts Immaculata – the last of the Amateur League contingent left in the competition.
Both teams have grown accustomed to reaching this stage, of course, with Mckervey and co facing the likes of Crusaders, Ballymena United and Carrick Rangers in recent times, while they went down 4-2 to Glentoran a matter of weeks ago when the two sides met in the County Antrim Shield.
Mckervey, though, fancies a crack at Cliftonville – the Ardoyne men’s illustrious north Belfast neighbours, but admits any high-profile draw would be warmly welcomed as the reigning Amateur League champions look to measure themselves against the cream of the Premiership.
He said: “We’ve played most of the other teams but we haven’t played Cliftonville so I’d like to get them – it would be nice to get someone different.
“But we’d take any Irish League club, that’s all you want because it gives the club a day out. And they are always good games for the players. It is a big step up for us and the biggest thing you notice is that it’s quicker – a lot quicker.
“They have that wee bit more quality all over the park, but we usually hold our own to a certain extent.”
Mckervey, called up for the Amateur League representative side last season only to miss the Rosebowl defeat in Glasgow through injury, feels this current crop of Crumlin Star players are even better than last season’s title winners.
The loss of gifted forward Darren Murray threatened to weaken Trainor’s side, but in 12-goal frontman Lavery, they have found a prolific replacement.
Star’s current form combined with Mckervey’s confidence is an ominous warning for any team hoping to dethrone the champions.
“If anything, I think we are slightly better this year,” said the Star skipper.
“Obviously it was a big thing losing ‘Doozil’ [Murray] but with Gary Lavery coming in and a few other boys, they have been really good so we are doing well.”
On the victory, a 10th in a row including their penalty shootout win over Larne Tech in the semifinal of the Border Cup last week, Mckervey admits it was a comfortable afternoon’s work.
“It was handy enough,” he said. “We got off to a good start, we got an early goal and we were 2-0 up at half-time.
“They came out second half and pushed a bit, put us under a bit of pressure but then we hit them on the break, got another goal and that was it, game over.”
Elsewhere, Immaculata put Crumlin United out of the Irish Cup as they triumphed 4-2 at Mill Road.