Make or break for Portglenone

Portglenone's Mark McAleese

PORTGLENONE boss Michael O’Kane knows that his side are now in a two week spell which could make or break their promotion ambitions.

The Casement’s lined out against Moneyglass last night, and now look forward to a clash at home to Aghagallon next Wednesday, followed closely by another home game against St Joseph’s next Saturday.

The following Wednesday (June 13) they’re on the road to face Gort na Mona, and the manager is all too aware of the importance not only of gathering points, but also coming through unscathed.

“At the minute, the league is very tight. We’re fourth, but only two points from the top, and there’s only eight points between the top and bottom. I think the next two weeks are going to really shake things up and you’ll see teams start to stretch away from the pack.

“We’ve had terrible luck with injuries. You have to grade 15 players as senior players, and last day out we only had six of those named 15 available. We lost four players the last day out to injury, all out for a month or more.”

The two week break for Antrim’s Ulster opener last weekend certainly fell at a good time for Portglenone, who will have at least a few of those absentees back into the fold.

Portglenone have encountered mixed fortunes in their six games to date, with four wins and two losses. However, the new manager has seen enough from his troops to show that they have the character to do well in the heat of competition.

“We were getting beat by seven points by Aghagallon in the first round of the league, and came back to win it by one, so we know it’s going to be another tight game. The point we hit in injury time was the first time in the whole game we had been in front.”

The full story is in the current issue of Gaelic Life, published on Thursday May 31. Buy your copy now in your local newsagent or, for only 90p, buy the online version by clicking here