Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAXIE SWAIN
By
DAVY MCCONNELL feels the East are “blessed” with the squad they’ve assembled after his double-winning second string ensured the club wouldn’t finish the season empty-handed.
For the fourth consecutive year the Sydenham-based outfit lifted a reserve league title – this time Division 3C – and in some style too, romping home with weeks to spare a staggering 17 points clear, an advantage which could yet increase to 20 depending on results over the next week.
And last Tuesday night, they capped a fine campaign when they added the Walter Moore Cup to their haul, proving too strong for Saintfield IIS as they stormed to a 4-2 win at Seaview.
It’s no exaggeration to say Mcconnell and his old pal John Spence saved the East from extinction when they both stepped into the breach in 2013 as the club, struggling to fulfil fixtures and regularly humiliated on the pitch, teetered on the brink of collapse.
So he’s entitled to relish their resurgence more than most.
After helping Spence steady the ship, he moved aside for Stephen Matthews to reform the second string who had gone to the wall the season before.
Since then, his team have only been beaten three times in the league in four years, while the first team are a force in the top flight once more, leading the way at the top of the Premier Division all season, only to be toppled in the crunch month of April.
And while Mcconnell readily admits champions-in-waiting Crumlin Star remain a cut above, with so much visible and tangible progress at his club, he has warned the Amateur League that the East are on the march.
“We all know the story of where we came from. I was there that year and it wasn’t nice getting hammered every week, but we stuck by it,” explained Mcconnell.
“Mack [Matthews] obviously came in and took the firsts on and I went with the seconds and we’ve come a long way.
“First year in the Premiership, coming third after being top all year, the boys weren’t too far off it, but Crumlin Star are a wonderful team, but we were up there challenging and we’ll be back stronger next year. I’ve no doubt about that and so will the seconds.
“We’ll be stronger again next year and I’ll be looking to win 3B.
“We went nearly three years with no defeats, and then we got beat on the last day of the season last year,” added Mcconnell.
“This season, we got beat one and drew one and won the rest so I’m very proud, the boys have knocked their pans in.
“We have such a big squad, we have a lot of quality at the club and that team I have could be playing 1A no problem.
“They all just love the club, they love the place and are just East Belfast through and through.”
With so many big players dropping down into the second string, the likes of Glen Upton, Stephen Garrett, Nathan and Gavin Mcconnell and Rhys Shaw, there’s always a danger their heads could be turned by rival clubs. But Mcconnell