McLaughlin already looking forward

The big centre-back feels if Head of Development Paul Kee adds one or two players to the existing squad then they have a fantastic chance of regaining their Premiership status.

The Drumahoe men, who finished the season with a 1-1 draw at Warrenpoint Town last weekend thanks to Sean Roddy’s equaliser, secured third spot just ahead of Bangor.

“We finished the season strongly and that’s a great benchmark for next season,” admitted McLaughlin.

“Ending up finishing in third spot means we have set ourselves a target for next season and no matter if Newry City go up in the play-off or Lisburn Distillery come down, then we’ll both be made favourites not just for the title but for promotion and I think we as a club should relish that.

“At the end of the day that will be a nice pressure to have being one of the sides favourite for promotion; however in saying that I looked at the league table over the weekend and there were around four or five sides who were just a few points behind us, so it just proves how tough and close the league is.

“Last season our best performances came in the cups and away to the likes of Ballinamallard and the big sides, our problem was that we some times weren’t able to mix it up with the sides who just wanted to battle for everything and stopped us playing.

“That is something we have to learn from this season and use those experiences and make sure we put them right next season.”

The skipper also admits he and a lot of the ’Stute squad don’t know if they will be at the Riverside Stadium and he hopes his future will be sorted out sooner rather than later.

“At the minute I don’t really know what is happening, but I’m not the only one in that situation, however I think Keeso is arriving to talk to a lot of us sometime this week or next week,” added McLaughlin.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to keep the majority of the squad and as I have already said maybe add one or two experienced players who have played in the Championship and knows what it’s all about.”

Another aspect which the ex-Derry City man feels the Drumahoe men, who received word yesterday (Tuesday) that they have their Championship Club licence, need to learn is to make sure they start the season well and learn from last year’s poor start.

“I think myself, Parky (Stephen Parkhouse) and Dean Jarvis all came in around the fourth or fifth game and we were a few points behind Ballinamallard, because we didn’t have a good start, that can’t happen next season if we want to aim for promotion let although the title,” he added.

“You can’t give teams a nine or ten points ahead start and that’s what we did this season, because you’ll always be playing catch up.

“Hopefully we’ll have added a few players, have a good pre-season under our belts, have learned from that poor start and make sure it doesn’t happen again and make sure we hit the ground running.”