Harps boosted by return of Teague

NEW signing Darren Teague will be included in the Strathroy Harps squad which faces Drumquin United in the fourth round of the fonaCAB Irish Junior Cup on Saturday.

Teague has returned to his former club from Dunbreen Rovers and, according to manager Benny Boyle, has shown up well in a couple of friendly games over the festive period.

The left-sided player will bring a wealth of experience to the Harps party and Boyle is keen to add one or two other players of similar ilk. Whether he gets them on board before Saturday or not remains to be seen.

On the return of Teague, the Harps supremo said, “He spoke to me a couple of months ago that he was looking to come back. He’ll be a good addition if he can commit to us.

“Like everyone else he’ll be getting no special treatment. If you train, you play.

“Darren played in an in-house game and against Fivemiletown and you could see the class he has. If you get that player turning up every week he’d be a serious addition to us.

“He’ll be in the squad for Saturday with perhaps one or two more new faces. We have a lot of young lads coming through and I think we need one or two more experienced heads in around training to help bring them on.”

So far it’s been an up and down season for Strathroy although they ended 2021 on a high note by defeating Enniskillen Rangers 1-0 at home.

Harps will be firm favourites to advance at Drumquin’s expense although the Division Three outfit have been playing well of late and scoring goals for fun.

Boyle is well aware that Drumquin is the provebial banana skin but insisted that if his players approach the tie with the right attitude then a place in the last-16 is there for the taking.

Anything less and his team could potentially end up with egg of their face.

“I have highlighted to the boys during the last few weeks in training that we can’t allow the tie against Drumquin be a banana skin,” he continued.

“We have to approach it as if we are playing one of the favourites or any other team in it. We are not underestimating them at all. They are unbeaten in a right few games and they are scoring goals.

“I know a few of their dangers, I have been doing my homework on them.

“We played a Fivemiletown select last week and won handy enough so if we play like we did in that game then I’d be quite happy that we can get the right result. On the day though it could be different as we all know. I’m looking forward to this weekend to be honest.”

Reflecting on the recent win over Rangers he added,“I knew going into the game given our preparation and focus that we would beat them. I had that feeling.

“We had a couple of bad results against Mountfield and Omagh Hossies before that and I have no excuses about them.

“For us it seems to be about mindset. When we play the top teams we produce the performances and sometimes when we play the so called lesser teams we don’t. That’s something we need to address.”

Elsewhere Dergview Reserves host NFC Kesh while Tummery Athletic entertain Killough.