Kee wants no Irish Cup repeat performance

In last year’s Irish Cup, junior side Kilmore Rec knocked ’Stute out and Kee is hoping that result will motivate his players for this weekend’s fourth round tie against Lisburn Distillery, at Drumahoe (KO 3pm).

Once again Kee will be warning his players to make sure they match the Whites’ never say die attitude, something which they didn’t do against Kilmore last season.

“It’s the tie of the round, so that says it all,” stated Kee.

“We got a home draw so you couldn’t have asked for anything better, but last year we played Kilmore Rec and it was a tough game, so it doesn’t matter who you play in the Irish Cup, it’s always difficult.

“A home draw is always good, but last year we didn’t use that to our advantage, so this year we have to make sure that we hit the ground early against Distillery on Saturday, to ensure that we get the momentum going, so that’s our plan.”

Midfield duo Gary Henderson and Darren McCauley return from suspension, while Stephen Parkhouse is recovering well from his rib problem and may also come back into contention as he’s likely to train later in the week, but Michael McCrudden and Aaron Walsh miss out through suspension.

Kee still remembers last year’s cup exit very vividly, but he also still feels they had enough chances that day to win and if they create the same amount of opportunities this weekend then Kee is confident the likes of Darren McFadden, Robbie Hume and McCauley will take them.

He also believes that as Tommy Kincaid’s side are in the same division his players won’t take their eye off the ball, something which may have happened last year.

“It’s possible, but to be honest we have to match teams’ motivation and last year, we got caught by a bad back pass and gave them momentum in the first 60 seconds, although we still had plenty chances to score, it didn’t happen for us last season.

“I think now we are better at scoring goals and have more creativity in our squad, but to be honest I would have liked a full squad to pick from.

“McCrudden is essential to what we do, he’s playing very well and I think if he had have stayed on at Dundela then we could have got a result, so he’s going to be a loss.”

The Drumahoe men had the Whites watched last weekend at Larne and despite losing at Inver Park, Kee is expecting a tough encounter on Saturday, but he’s hoping their display at leaders Dundela will give his boys a spring in their step.

“Although they lost to Larne at the weekend, they’ll be looking to bounce back, but we had a good performance at Dundela ourselves and we’ll be looking to carry that on into Saturday’s match.

“We were more up for the game at Dundela and we’ll need to be the same this weekend. Players like (Graham) Crown, (Declan) McKeever, Sean Reilly, Ryan Varma all did well.”