ANDREWS KNOWS EXPERIENCE WILL HELP HIS GROVE IMPROVE

RICKY ANDREWS insists he has no regrets over the season after Grove showed what they’re capable of with a 1-0 win at promotion-chasing Dunmurry Rec.

Joe Magee, making his first start of the season for the firsts, grabbed the only goal of the game at Ashley Park as the Shore Road men claimed a 10th win from 17 league games. Eight of those victories, however, arrived in their first nine 1A outings, with the other game abandoned in controversial circumstances at Kilmore.

It was a terrific start to the new campaign by last year’s 1B champions, fuelling belief that they could go on and clinch back-to-back promotions.

But since then Grove have struggled and while that ill-tempered clash at Kilmore has marred their season somewhat, with both teams docked three points over the fracas which flared on the pitch, Andrews reckons there are other reasons for their downturn.

He feels they were handed favourable fixtures at the start of the season, perhaps exaggerating how good a start they had made, while he insists they have warranted more points recently than they have won.

Nevertheless, he remains fiercely proud of how his players have acquitted themselves in their first year back in 1A.

And while their stuttering form since Christmas looks likely to have robbed them of a shot at promotion, the Grove chief feels his team have firmly established themselves in the division, all of which bodes well for when the new season comes around. “I just thought after winning it last year, we thought if we could stablise in 1A, even top half would have been great for us,” said Andrews.

“But after our start, we weren’t getting carried away, but all of a sudden we were going like last year and I thought, ‘Here we go again’.

“But the fixtures had sort of fell for us, we hadn’t played the Rosarios, the Dromaras, the Dunmurrys who were at the top.

“And to be fair, over the last number of weeks, we have been really unlucky, we played Rosario and I thought we should have got something out of that.

“We played Immaculata in the cup, they beat us 1-0 and we could have got something out of that as well.

“So we’ve been pretty unlucky.

We lost a couple of players too. Adam Irwin was probably our top player and he went to Knockbreda and we lost our captain Scott Spiers with a back injury, so we have missed him.

“But I couldn’t fault the guys, they are giving everything, and everything at the club is dead on, it’s fine, and I’m more than happy with where we are.

“We still have games in hand and I’m hoping to finish top five, that would be a good season for us.

“Saturday, I was so pleased for the players because they hurt after every defeat. I’m glad to say my players hurt when we don’t do ourselves justice.

“But we’re looking forward to next year already, we’ve got ourselves established in this league and hopefully now we can push on.”

KRIS MALONE insists Greenisland are relaxed about the fight for second place as a potential do-or-die shootout with Plunkett edges ever closer. Rosemount wrapped up the 1C league title on Saturday with a 3-2 win over Saintfield, leaving just one more promotion spot up for grabs. And as Lee Cathcart’s men were finally getting the job done, across town Greenisland were ending Suffolk’s outside hopes of a late push with a 4-1 win on their west Belfast patch reducing the battle for promotion to two teams. Sitting in second with just three fixtures left, Greenisland are in the box seat and hold the destiny of the season in their own hands. Three more wins will take them to 62 points, above and beyond anything Plunkett can manage after they slipped up to Iveagh last weekend. But with the two sides set to face each other in Greenisland’s final game of the season – yet to be scheduled – there remains the very distinct possibility that it will be a winner-takes-all showdown should both teams claim maximum points over the run-in. “We’ve three tough matches – home to Holywood, away to Shorts and then the last game will be against Plunkett – but I don’t know what date,” said Malone. “It was a bit of a shock result with them losing last week and they need to keep winning too, so it’s all to play for. “It’s always been in our hands. If we keep winning we go up so we haven’t really been watching the other results, but obviously we seen that result last week and it was a bit of a shock, a welcome shock. “But we’ve done really well, especially in our first year coming up into Intermediate football. “We’ve been very good at home and away from home, we’ve been picking up points and doing alright, but it’s been a tough league, a tough season.” Indeed, Greenisland had to dig deep on their travels again on Saturday to eventually record an emphatic win – courtesy of goals from Tommy Hamill, Darren Bell, Jonny Mcclurg and Gareth Mcguinness – and secure a massive three points against a team who went into the game still hoping to catch the two promotion contenders. “First half, it certainly wasn’t comfortable,” added the Greenisland keeper. “We went 1-0 up and they came back so it was 1-1 at half-time and they were putting a lot of pressure on us. “But we came out the second half and were excellent, defended really well and hit them on the break. “They are a decent team, a few good players in their team.”