Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAXIE Swainmirror.co.uk/sport/football JAMES AND THE GIANT REACH
Rathfriland goal king Costello knows his Iveagh men have to lift their game to bridge gap with Star By
JAMES COSTELLO admits he would readily swap personal glory for team honours with Rathfriland.
Last May, the Iveagh Park hitman was named the Amateur League’s player of the season in the wake of another devastating campaign on a personal front after he smashed 47 goals in all competitions, before a thigh injury in April sidelined him for three months.
For all his efforts, however, and those of his teammates, the Whites still came up short in the race for silverware.
At one stage, after rousing wins over Immaculata and Crumlin Star in February, they looked favourites to win it, only for the defending champions to bounce back emphatically, with the Ardoyne outfit eventually marching to a clean sweep of Premier Division title, Border Cup and Clarence Cup, raising the bar once again in the process.
Barely six weeks into the new term and Paul Trainor’s men are already streaking clear of Aaron Black’s side, opening up a five-point gap after just five games.
Now into his fifth season with the Mourne outfit having forged his reputation as a prolific goalscorer in the Irish League, former Glenavon ace Costello knows how competitive the Amateur League’s top flight is and how difficult it will be to rein in the holders and current league leaders.
But he insists he and his teammates won’t waste their time worrying about the opposition and things they can’t affect, instead preferring to focus on themselves and putting a run together to get back in contention.
After steering clear of injuries for seven years, Costello has picked up two back-toback, the thigh complaint which ended his season last April, and an ankle knock which kept him out for a few weeks at the start of the new one.
But he’s back now and ready to spearhead their bid for a maiden Premier Division crown – once the run of cup competitions in September are taken care of.
He said: “Being out injured, I could honestly say it was the hardest thing that has happened to me in football in five or six years.
“It was six years since I was previously injured, and that was actually on the same thigh, so I’ve been very, very lucky to stay injury-free.
“But to watch the games from the sidelines when you really feel you could have an impact was very difficult.
“First of all, hats off to Crumlin Star for the season they had last year. Paul [Trainor] and the boys were excellent and to win what they did, it’s a credit to them and every other team should envy them as we do.
“And coming into this season for us, it’s a bit of what could have been last season, for the position we were in with six or eight games left, it was really hard to take at the end of the season.
“But we dust ourselves down and we go again because that’s football. But if you’re asking me if I’d swap my award, yes I would have swapped it for the league.
“We want to look forward now though. I think it’s fair to say at the start of this season we were still finding our feet a bit with a couple of injuries to myself, Ross Black and Aaron in particular. We’ve been missing a couple of key men in the first few games and I think that hurt us.
“But we are dying to get really going. We are three weeks away from the league, and while we always want to do well in the cup games, there’s a huge amount of cup games, and it was a cup game I got injured in last season, so I don’t know how you find that balance.”
Rathfriland lost a couple of key players over the summer with Matty Hazley moving on and Thomas Lockhart unavailable for the forseeable future due to work commitments.
But they recruited wisely, bolstering their midfield with the signings of Peter Brannigan from Newcastle, Nathan O’neill from Derriaghy and Marty Haveron from Newry City, while 17-year-old winger Harry Campbell (circled) has arrived from PSNI, with Costello hugely impressed, describing him as “a fantastic young player”.
“We really do have high hopes for him,” added the Rathfriland forward.
And with the squad they have assembled, Costello is confident his team can end the dominance of Crumlin Star.
“We’ve had a few additions in over the summer and we feel we can get back to where we were,” said Costello. “To be honest, our focus isn’t really on Crumlin Star. We know the level we can perform too and if that’s good enough come May, that’s where we want to be.
“They have their season and we have ours and we want to win as many games as we can. We’re focusing on our own campaign and whatever that brings, league, cups or whatever, that’s what we want.
“We have a management team who are winners so we’ll not settle for a mediocre season. We want to push on and the players we have brought in have all bought into that and we’re just hoping we can keep as many of the squad fit for as long as we can to give us the best possible chance.” 18.09.2018