Raceview prepare for title defence

The Broughshane men landed the Michelin Athletic Club-sponsored championship for the first time in three seasons and the third time in six years last term.

"It's one thing to win the league but defending it is harder again," Cairns told Times Sport.

"I can see it being the usual suspects like Brantwood, Dunloy, Ballynure Old Boys and hopefully ourselves up there.

"We have a smaller squad than last season in terms of numbers but I believe we will be as strong. We have players from our reserve team capable of making the breakthrough."

Raceview have lost a number of players to Saturday Morning League clubs but the biggest loss could be Matthew Boyd, who is understood to be joining Ballymena United, having completed pre-season with the Sky Blues.

But that loss could be off-set by the return of Chris Crawford - Raceview's top scorer two years ago - who had been working in England last term.

Other new faces include former Mosside and Dunaghy player Stephen McCooke and ex-Portglenone goalkeeper Declan Scullion.

Ironically, Raceview's opening game this Saturday is against Portglenone, who make a welcome return to the league after having to pull out near the end of last season.

The other local side in the intermediate division are Clough Rangers Athletic, who will be looking to build upon an encouraging sixth place finish in Alan Boyd's first season in charge.

The opening intermediate fixtures for Ballymena-based sides are:

Saturday, August 7: Clough Rangers Athletic v Ballynure Old Boys; Portglenone v Raceview.

Wednesday, August 11 (7pm): Cookstown Olympic v Portglenone; Raceview v Clough Rangers Athletic.

The junior divisions start the following week.