CHRIS SHERRARD SEAGOE HAVE GROUNDS FOR OPTIMISM

By Portadown club want a team to match facilities

SEAGOE hope their Tarsan Lane home will help them swing back into the big time.

The Portadown side have been kicking around in the lower reaches of Intermediate football for some time now.

The glory days of league titles at the turn of the Millennium has seemed a distant memory for long periods since.

But the restructuring of the Intermediate game which is looming large means clubs like Seagoe could come into their own by virtue of their excellent facilities and youth set-up.

And the goal for everyone at the club now is to ensure that they also have a team which is capable of competing at that level.

The early signs this season weren’t great but victory at the weekend in impressive fashion suggests green shoots pushing up through their Co Armagh turf.

And their manager Matthew

Wright (circled) has paid tribute to the endeavour of everyone at the club.

He told Match on Tuesday: “The committee works so hard and they’re all football people too.

“Many of them have been with Seagoe for a long, long time – I think there’s seven on the committee who’ve been here more than 15 years.

“There’s great continuity which runs through the club and that was one of the things which attracted me to come here.

“They’ve managed to get a grant towards a new community hub at Tarsan Lane which is going to be a great asset for the club and also for the entire area.

“Nobody is 100% clear on what way the league is going with the changes but hopefully the way this club has been doing things will stand to us.

“We’ve a full junior section now and some great talent coming through and Seagoe has been keeping its own facilities running to a high standard for quite a while now.

“We would love to be in the Premiership in five years’ time, of course we would.

“But we have to be realistic – we’re self-sustained and that already takes a lot of money.

“We have put down a fouryear plan to be challenging for league titles and trophies.

“The aim this season is to get a solid foundation and try to finish in the top six and then push on.

“If we can get a consistency in our results then we can certainly build towards the targets we’ve set ourselves.”

Seagoe, whose team included Ryan Lynass (right), progressed to round three of the Marshall Cup with victory at Sandy Hill at the weekend.

Aaron Black (2) and captain Stuart Corkin got their goals in an impressive performance against a side who’ve been on the up and up.

It’s a competition Seagoe have not won in their 38 years in the Mid-ulster ranks.

And while few are expecting the club to change that this season, a run to the latter rounds would be welcomed by the players and management.

The same goes for the Bob Radcliffe Cup. That’s the competition next up for the Tarsan Lane side with a trip to Lurgan Town their mission.

And Wright is braced for another tough encounter.

“Since we’ve made the changes that myself and Lee [Winters] and George [Mcallister] wanted to make,” he said, “we’ve become more of a footballing team.

“Lurgan Town are a big, strong, physical side and it’s always difficult against them.

“There’s only ever been the odd goal between the two of us when we’ve played each other in recent seasons.

“Saturday against Sandy Hill was a big win for us and a good workout. If we can get another