Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LECKEY GETS A LUCKY BREAK AS NORTEL TRIUMPH
SUPER-SUB Mark Leckey admits he may never score a more important goal after his late winner on Saturday fired Nortel into 2B along with champions Willowbank. The centre-back powered home a header in the last 10 minutes at Monkstown Avenue to secure the points the hosts needed for second place and personally end the year on a high, having missed much of the campaign with a broken ankle he sustained in pre-season. Just a few days earlier, Nortel looked like they might have blown their chance after they conceded in injury time to lose to St Matthew’s, the only team who could still deny them promotion. But they managed to pick themselves up as their entire season, including just two defeats in the league, came down to the last day to win 3-2 and complete a league double over the league, Cochrane Corry and Junior Shield champions. “I’ve scored a few goals in finals but that was one of my biggest goals,” admitted Leckey. “It was a great feeling to get it and all the boys were loving it. “That Willowbank are a smashing side and they had a lot of the players that won the league on the sidelines on Saturday. They went with a young team, but they are a good side. “We really needed to win there yesterday because I think St Matthew’s would have beaten them on Monday night. “So I’m looking forward to next season now and getting a good pre-season now after that broken ankle.” Not for the first time in his career, the big defender proved himself the man for the big occasion for Nortel chief Gary Burns. During their time in the Ballymena Intermediate League together with Ballynure Old Boys, Leckey grabbed crucial goals in the O’gorman, Mcreynolds and Crawford cup finals, while he scored 16 from centre-back the year Ballynure won the title. And for Burns, his contribution on Saturday, having only been introduced a few minutes earlier, couldn’t have been more timely. Having assembled a team full of Intermediate-level players, Burns knows there was a real danger of his squad disintegrating had they failed to land their primary target. “See the amount of goals he has got me when I needed goals is unbelievable,” laughed the Nortel chief. “But it was so important to get promotion, even other players we’ve been in touch with to sign for next year, all of it depends on promotion. “The thing could have easily went tits up yesterday, especially after the club folding last season. “It was massive, and if we didn’t get it done yesterday, I wasn’t too confident we were going up because St Matthew’s would have went down all guns blazing [in their final game of the season against Willowbank last night]. “Any other year we would have won the league with the points we have. I think there are only two other teams in the Amateur League who dropped less points, 18th and Willowbank. “So we came across two very good teams this season. “We were missing four key players yesterday, but the boys who came on did the job. “Now we have to build for next year, we need to get more signings in. It needs freshened up because injuries caught up with us because we have a lot of boys in their mid-30s. “But the boys have been brilliant all season and Saturday definitely ranks up there with anything I’ve done as a manager. “It’s up there for all the work that went into it and we said at the start of the season that that was the minimum aim, but to go out and do it, and in my first year in the Amateur League because I am still learning about this league, was brilliant.”