Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THIS DERBY IS AS BIG AS RADCLIFFE CUP FINAL
Dollingstown skipper says a win over Celtic is the priority
DOLLINGSTOWN have derby delight in their sights to kickstart their stuttering season.
The Planter’s Park side are without a win in six games back in the Premier Intermediate League.
That run has seen them cut slightly adrift from the rest of the division with five points now between them and second-bottom Armagh City.
Having lost to Moyola Park at the weekend, next comes a clash with neighbours Lurgan Celtic who are five points in front of Stephen Uprichard’s (circled) men.
With the season in such infancy, relatively speaking, it feels wrong to talk about six-pointers.
But that’s the prevalent sense going into 3pm on Saturday.
And Dollingstown captain Aaron Moffett is well aware of the importance of the game and the remainder of this calendar year.
He told Match On Tuesday: “December is a big, big month for us as a club. We have three league games in a row and the Bob Radcliffe Cup Final to look forward to.
“Saturday against Lurgan Celtic is going to be massive for us now.
“It definitely has the feel of a sixpointer for us anyway – we need to get into cup final mentality for every game now because we don’t want to be getting cut any more adrift.
“It’s a derby game which is always big anyway and the way the table is adds importance to that. We have to go into the game as positive as we can be and try and turn things around.”
A fifth defeat from six PIL games on Saturday doesn’t tell the full story from Dollingstown’s perspective.
Tiarnan Rafferty and Kyle Beggs scored the Moyola Park goals to ease their own frustrations to deposit a second PIL victory.
Beggs was the thorn in Dollingstown’s side throughout the game with the away team spurning a couple of chances to get on the scoresheet.
“It was very frustrating,” Moffett admitted.
“Nobody is blowing us away, we’re just shooting ourselves in the foot by making mistakes and not taking our chances.
“The table doesn’t lie but we have been competitive in most games. We’re just a bit naive at times and we’re being punished for every single mistake.
“You can’t keep handing points away like we have been doing so there’s plenty for us to be working on in training.
“Confidence is low at the minute but the mood in the camp is mixed because we’ve a cup final in front of us as well.
“We’re not even thinking about the Radcliffe at the minute, though – all of our focus is on the next game and trying to put league points on the board.”