Ardstraw players relishing competitive action

ARDSTRAW manager Nigel Boyd says his players are relishing the opportunity to play competitive football over the coming five or six weeks.

Unlike most other junior and intermediate governing bodies across the province, the Northern Ireland Intermediate League committee decided against cancelling their season completely in the hope that Covid restrictions would be relaxed.

Last week the Northern Ireland Executive did just that and with the full backing of it’s member clubs, the north-west based body is going to run off the Northern Ireland Intermediate  League Cup competition over the coming weeks with every team playing each other once.

On Saturday Ardstraw open their campaign with a home game against Newtowne and Boyd insists his players are raring to go.

“To be honest at this stage people will take any football they can get,” he said.

“It’s good to be back, we have had two training sessions and it was interesting to see exactly the attitude of the players. There was a great turnout and everyone is keen to get playing. That’s the most important thing for me as a manager, that the boys have an appetite for it.”

FULL STORY IN THIS WEEK’S ULSTER HERALD