McConnell wants plum draw in Irish Cup

A Paul Maguire hat-trick in Saturday’s 3-2 win over Wakehurst secured the Inver Reds’ passage to the next stage of the competition.

“Ideally, we will get a home draw – and it will be against one of the top Premier League clubs,” said McConnell.

“Before I say anything else, let me be realistic here: Larne are not going to win the Irish Cup this season. That is not being defeatist because I have always had, and will continue to have, ambitions of winning the competition. But we are not good enough this year.

“So, if we are going to achieve anything in the tournament, we may as well hope for a big financial return from it, and the best way we can enjoy that is to get a big team coming to Inver Park in the next round.

“Obviously, Linfield would be the plum draw but it would be no good if we have to go to Windsor Park because their overheads are such that half the gate would be nowhere nearly as rewarding as it would if we have them at Inver.

“Drawing one of the struggling Premier League teams, home or away, would be no good because the gates would not be very good and we would have little chance of causing an upset and hoping for better luck in the next draw.”

In this week’s Larne Times we have a full match report on the win over Wakehurst and we get Inver winger Andy Simms’s views on the game.