Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LARNE HAVE STARS IN THEIR EYES
Mcallister rallies Tech for Crumlin test
NIALL Mcallister reckons it’s time Larne Tech delivered on their promise as they look to end Crumlin Star’s pursuit of Border Cup glory at Seaview tomorrow (8pm).
The north Belfast side, back-to-back champions in the Christmas showpiece back in 2011 and 2012, are in terrific form and many people’s favourites to add the trophy to the Premier Division title they won in such style last May.
But Johnny Hastings’ men, unbeaten in the league in more than a year, are brimming with confidence too, and equally determined to get their hands on the first piece of Amateur League silverware of the season.
Into his fourth year with the Tech, club captain Mcallister reckons this is the most talented squad Hastings has assembled yet, and rather than worry about how his team can stop the free-scoring Star, he insists the Tech will be concentrating on their own game as they bid to book a December 27 showdown with Downpatrick.
“We’ve been threatening to win something for a couple of years now but we still have nothing to show for it so far and that’s what we are hoping for this year,” said Mcallister.
“It will be a hard game for us, they seem to be in good form, they have won every league game so far and are through in all the cups so it will be interesting.
“But we have played a couple of Premier league sides so far in this competition, we beat East Belfast and Rathfriland as well. It will be a tough game but it’s nothing we are fearing.
“I think the Star will be a better footballing team than what we have played so we are expecting them to try and play through us a bit more and be less direct than the other teams we have played.
“But we probably play the best football in our division so I think we will give them some problems of our own.
“We’ll give them respect and we’ll have to stop them from playing but we are good on the ball, we have plenty of pace and plenty of players who can hurt them too.”
Larne Tech suffered a major setback on the eve of their semi-final after goalkeeper Chris Keenan broke his jaw in a collision with his team-mate on Saturday, with the former Crusaders stopper undergoing an operation on Sunday morning.
Undoubtedly a maverick, ‘Chick’ Keenan is nevertheless one of the best keepers in the league on his day, with his loss a significant blow to Hastings (circled) and co.
That said, with Brendan Quinn set to deputise in his absence, Mcallister is adamant the Tech can cope, claiming the quality and strength in depth of their squad is one of their biggest assets.
“We have a good squad and there will be a couple dropped for Wednesday night so it will be interesting to see what he (Hastings) goes for because we have plenty of options and different styles of players,” said Mcallister.
“Every week we are having to send four or five first team quality players with the seconds and the seconds have won every game this season as well so the whole club is strong.”
Both the Star, who won a sixth consecutive league game of the season on Saturday with a 2-1 defeat of 1st Bangor, and the Tech, who took the first points of the season off early 1A pacesetters Ballynahinch Olympic at the weekend, will be battling it out for the right to face Downpatrick in the decider after the Rosconnor men, beaten finalists twice in the last three years, ended Shankill United’s interest in their last four clash last Wednesday.