Clarke targeting immediate senior return

NEW Naomh Séamas manager Ronan Clarke is confident that the side can make a prompt return to the Antrim Senior Championship after their relegation last season.

The team had entered the top grade as Intermediate champions, but won just one of their six group games and eventually were relegated.

The 2002 Young Player of the Year believes that the side are capable of learning from those losses, and he already senses the hunger to get back to the top.

“They won the Intermediate Championship two years ago and then went up and back down,” said the Armagh man.

“Just looking at their games, they held their own in a lot of them. They did well.

“They got a taste of it and they know now what they have to do to stay up there if they get back up.

“They are a team that wants to play at the highest level.

We have to just wait it for now though and adhere to all the rules.

“Hopefully we will get up and running in the not too distant future and it’s a great challenge. All coaches need challenges and I can’t wait to start.”

Clarke was linked to a number of clubs following his exit from Armagh side Silverbridge at the end of last year, but he said that there was something about the Aldergrove outfit that stood out.

He feels that dreaming big is not limited to just the senior team, and he senses that the entire club wants to move forward at pace.

“They’re an ambitious club, a relatively new club, and they have a great bunch of players there. Good squad numbers.

“That’s what impacted on me, that ambition and how much they wanted to move forward.

“I said I’ll give it a go and see how we get on and hopefully it goes well.”