‘Jamie Vardy is the Premier League’s version of me’ says Limavady United forward

Asked this week about his remarkable goalscoring feats, the on-fire forward joked: “To be honest I think that Jamie Vardy is the Premier League’s Cathair Friel, not the other way round.”

He put his sensational goalscoring exploits down to hard work, saying: “I have put in a lot of hard work in preseason in the gym and we all work hard in training during the week as well.”

He continued: “It’s great putting the ball in the back on the net, I don’t care if miss a chance or two because I know I’ll get more.

“To be fair that’s down to the players who are around me in the team, if it wasn’t for them then I wouldn’t have scored so many goals.

“I know I’ve got the plaudits for the goals but to be honest as I said it’s the help from the other players in the team that allow me to do that.”

Having already scored twenty-eight goals in all competitions this season, the Drumsurn lad has his eye on a few records.

“With the goals that I have scored already this season I’d be very disappointed if I didn’t break the clubs scoring records.

“The league goal record is the first target and I’m not too far away from that already although we haven’t had a league game in a few weeks.

“The season record is the big one, I’m over half way there already plus we have over half the season still to go. If we keep going in the various cups too then it gives me a few extra games giving me a better chance. It would be great come the end of the season where we have won a few trophies and I’ve broke a few records.”

Having already won the North West Senior Cup, Friel has his eyes on winning a second trophy before the New Year.

“We have one trophy in the bag already this season so it will be nice to pick up another one if we can.

“That said the main aim for the team this season is getting promoted but the cups are a nice distraction. It’s always nice to be in a cup final but to be honest it’s all about winning it when you get there, nobody remembers the runners up.

The on-fire forward says Institute hold no fear for the Roesiders. He said: “We have already beaten Stute once this season so there is no reason why we can’t go and beat them again.

“We need to be at our best because it’s a cup final, it doesn’t matter how we do it, just as long as we get the right result.”