Fivemiletown United bid to bridge 11-year trophy gap

FIVEMILETOWN United will bid to bridge an 11-year gap when they lock horns with Windmill Stars in the Premier Cup Final at Holm Park on Saturday.

Town’s last major silverware success was when they won the Marshall Cup back in 2011.

On that occasion the Valley Stadium men defeated Hill Street after extra-time and penalties and Town’s current joint-player-manager Chris McDowell remembers it well given he was one of the victorious players.

Since then it’s been something of a famine in terms of trophies but, under the guidance of McDowell and Barry Anderson, Town can make up for lost time by winning not one but two cups over the coming days.

The Tyrone side will also contest the Marshall Cup Final next week after defeating Windmill Stars 2-0 in a dress rehearsal on Saturday.

McDowell, though, is looking no further than Saturday’s showdown at Holm Park and insists the last-four victory over Stars will have absolutely no bearing on the final decider.

“It was cagey, a game of few chances. We scored in the 86th minute and then grabbed a second on the counter attack,” he said.

“I’ll not be reading too much into last Saturday’s game, Stars will be a different animal this coming weekend.

“The opportunity to potentially finish the season with two trophies is brilliant but obviously the full focus goes on this Saturday – we’ll take it one at a time.

“It would be fantastic for the club as a whole to win a trophy. The support we have had from the community and club itself has been unbelieveable.

“The supporters are following us everywhere, the community is really buying into what we are trying to achieve.

“It’s 11 years since we have won silverware and I have always said it that this club has the ability to win trophies. The biggest thing is for me and Barry is, it’s been our first season. It’s been a good season but this could be the icing on the cake for us.

“We have laid a good foundation already fo next season. If you were giving out awards for effort and dedication our boys would win it hands down but we have to now go out and finish the job.

“We have told them that they have worked hard all season now let’s go and finish it and enjoy it.”

Under McDowell and Anderson, Town have enjoyed a relatively successful season in the Mid Ulster League. They have finished eighth in a league of 16 and in the final weeks of what has been a long season – Saturday’s semi-final was game number 46 – the players as a collective appear to have raised their game to another level .

That said the showpiece decider is hard to call but McDowell hopes that with one final push his players can end the club’s trophy famine.

“Everybody is available except Stefan McMaster who we lost to injury a few weeks back,” continued McDowell.

“He did his ACL a few years ago and he again has an issue with it. We have a few other knocks but everyone else should be fit.

“We have played Windmill Stars twice this season. They beat us and beat us well in a league game down there and on Saturday we came out on top. I think organisation is the key for us and certainly that’s been the case against those bigger physical teams.

“Organisation and taking our chances when they come could make all the difference. And, of course, work-rate and energy which we have in abundance.

“We have a number of players, regular stalwarts, you can rely on but in recent weeks there has been a number of others who have really stepped up to the plate. Young lads have really stepped up in the last five or six weeks.

“They have all played their part and hopefully that proves to be the case on Saturday again.”

Last Saturday’s goal-scorers in the Marshall Cup semi-final victory were Gary Trotter and David Fulton. Saturday’s final kicks off at 2pm