MAXIE SWAIN TOUGH AT THE TOP..

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PAUL Sharvin says he’s really relishing Killyleagh’s return to top flight football this season – even if his injury-jinxed side have yet to hit the heights.

It’s been a frustratingly stop-start season for the Showgrounds outfit, both on the field where they have only played six league games to date, and off it with Sharvin’s son Jamie soon to discover whether the horror injury he suffered in their Steel Cup defeat to Crewe United last month will end his career.

The classy midfielder suffered a complete rupture of his ACL, plus a grade two rupture of his medial ligament, and is set to undergo an MRI this week to get a prognosis.

Killyleagh have also been deprived of the services of Lee Morrison for the last two months after he picked up an ankle injury, and of Macauley Foster for the last few weeks after he suffered concussion, while Johnny Cheevers and BJ Mcmenamin have barely kicked a ball due to their unavailability for various reasons.

All told then, it’s been a testing start back in the top tier for the Premier Division new boys, but far from bemoaning his situation, Sharvin insists he’s loving the challenge.

“My squad has been pushed to the limits but you just have to get on with it, our squad is good enough,” said the Killyleagh chief, whose side travel to Hanover in the third round of the Irish Cup this weekend.

“Last year, we went the first 10 unbeaten, a really, really good start, so it was all good, but this year, we are playing against quality teams every week, not once every two or three weeks like in 1A, so we’re getting our eyes opened.

“But I think we are lucky that Drumaness and a few others are struggling because there is not much pressure on us. We have had a lot of injuries and a lot of unavailability like everyone else, but we don’t want to complain, you just get on with it.

“We’re not going to complain about injuries or suspensions or anything like that, I’m really enjoying it.”

With most of the Premier Division’s big hitters still to face Killyleagh home and away, Sharvin knows things are only going to get tougher, but he reckons his side, the same squad of players who went through all of last season with just two defeats en route to promotion, are gifted enough and brave enough to deal with the step up in quality.

“We haven’t played Crumlin Star, East Belfast, Rathfriland or Immaculata but we’re really looking forward to those games and wait till I tell you, it is a joy to be playing in that top league, the boys get more time on the ball, there’s some real ball players in this league,” added Sharvin.

“Like everything else, you discover who can do it for you and who can’t whenever the chips are down, but the boys are working really hard.

“But we’ll be higher up than lower down, we’ll be top half I hope. Our main aim is to stay here, and don’t get me wrong, we haven’t played a lot of the top teams, apart from Ballynahinch Olympic.

“They beat us 5-3 but hands up, I played three at the back and I shouldn’t have, they seem to have a hoodoo over us, we seem to do well against them all the time but they still beat us.

“But if we win our home games and pick up points away, we’ll be OK, and for us it’s just about staying in there and then we can keep adding better players to the squad.”