Safety the target for Teconnaught says Clarke

By Shaun Casey

HAVING gained promotion last season, securing their Division Three status is the main objective in 2026 for Teconnaught, according to their manager John Clarke. The former Down footballer took over last year and with six games remaining in the league, he hopes they can achieve their target.

Teconnaught currently have eight points on the board while St John Bosco and Newry Shamrocks are below that with six. East Belfast are anchored at the bottom of the table with zero points to show for their efforts.

“We came up from Division Four last year and promotion was brilliant for the club, so this year is all about survival,” Clarke said.

“It’s been up and down for us, there’s no point in lying about it. It’s been a difficult enough season at stages but we’re a young team and we’re learning week on week and playing at that higher level. We don’t get away with the same mistakes that we did last year.

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“We’re moving in the right direction, but we know there’s a massive six games coming up. We’re sitting on eight points and 14 points is probably the aim for safety.”

Clarke sees it as a three-way battle at the bottom of the table. His stated target is to win three of their remaining six matches.

“It’s looking like East Belfast are gone so it’s going to be one of us, Bosco and Shamrocks. It’s going to be a real scrap for points in the last six games.

“We’re hoping we can pick up a bit of form, and three wins is what we’re aiming for. If we can do that, we’ll retain our status and then the championship will be a free hit for us but it’s important for the team and the club to try and stay up.”

That six-game run-in begins on Friday night and Clarke’s charges are on the road as they travel to Liatroim, one of the teams concerning themselves with the top end of the table.

“Liatroim are in that top bracket trying to get promoted so it’s going to be a tough ask, but we should have probably beaten them earlier in the year, we were unlucky,” Clarke continued.

“We know Liatroim are a great side, and they have a lot of boys back on board, boys who had hurling commitments. It’s a tough ask but we’ll go believing we can get something from the game. “We have to go to Bosco and to Shamrocks in the last couple of games as well so it could come down to those games to decide who gets that last relegation spot.”

Clarke is hoping to strengthen his hand over the next few weeks. “We still have three or four boys unavailable for various reasons but we’re hoping to get them back over the next week or two.”

“The average age of our squad in the last game there against Attical was 21 years of age so we are very young. It’s probably been a baptism of fire for a lot of those young lads.

“If we can get everybody back on board over the next couple of weeks, we can hopefully stay up and then hopefully give the championship a rattle too. Getting those lads available is going to be key.”