Recruitment key to Portadown Success

Ahu Obhakhan has been a perfect fit for Portadown

Portadown FC has been one of the surprise packages in this season’s Sports Direct Premiership, and Ports gaffer Niall Currie is quick to point to player recruitment as a key element in that development, “To be fair the club has been fantastic in the support they have given us, and they have given us a real chance to not just bring the club back into the Premiership, but to compete, and it’s all about the recruitment.”

In terms of talent searching, Niall puts that success down to one man in particular, former Portadown striker Shane Dolan. “We are very very happy with recruitment and a big thanks goes to the likes of Shane Dolan. We put Shane in as Head of Recruitment in the Republic of Ireland and he has brought us a couple of diamonds and has a couple more diamonds coming to us in January.”It is all about cutting the cloth to suit, and at this point in time it is those hidden gems that Portadown are on the lookout for in the southern market. “That’s the market we are in now, we can’t compete in this market, it’s as simple as that. We can’t go to Scotland and England, but down south there are plenty of diamonds down there and thankfully we’ve got Shane and he’s one of the top men to bring them up here.”Shane is fully focused on bringing that talent to Shamrock Park, “With the transfer market becoming increasingly difficult in Northern Ireland over the past few years a number of clubs regularly contacted me to find talent down south that may be perfect for the Irish League.” Now that he is contracted to Portadown Shane has been working with the management team, identifying areas of the squad that they would like to strengthen, and he is only on the look out for players to bring to Portadown. The team will be busy over the festive period with games against Crusaders, Glenavon and Glentoran in the space of a few days. Having fresh legs ready to come into the squad in January will hopefully boost the club’s momentum as they strive re-establish Portadown in the Premiership once more.