Roesiders hoping for better weather

LIMAVADY United will try again this weekend to play their WKD Intermediate Cup tie with Holywood Football Club after the game was called off last week due to a frozen pitch.

Holywood FC was formed in 1983 following the amalgamation of two Northern Amateur League teams, Loughview Star (1961-83) and Holywood Town (1972-83).

These two clubs hadn't been too successful, though Loughview had caused a sensation when they reached the Clarence Cup Final when a Second Division club, losing 2-0 to Lisburn Rangers in 1964/65.

Loughview won Division 2b in 1981/82 and after the amalgamation, the new club finished runners up in 2b in 1992/93 but were soon relegated again.

The clubs biggest day came when they won the IFA Junior Cup final in 1989/90, beating their town rivals Holywood Rec. in the decider!

The club enjoyed even more success in recent years, namely winning the 2a title and the Cochrane & Corry Cup in the 1999/00 season.

As a result the club were promoted for the first time in their history to 'Intermediate' status and were one of the strongest squads in division 1b.

Season 04-05 finished with the First Team getting promoted to NAFL Div 1A for the first time in the clubs history, under the guidance of the new management team of James Todd, Bobby Brown and Bobby Hawthorne.

After an initial good season in 1A, season 06-07 concluded with a game at Seapark against top of the table rivals Larne Tech with the promotion to NAFL Premier League at stake for the winners.

Holywood won 5-3 in this memorable game and promotion to the Premier League was assured for the first time in the clubs history.

They are currently 12th in the Premier Division having just ten points from their ten league games this season and have conceded more than they have scored.

However their last league game ended in a victory over Comber Rec, United's last opponents in the WKD Intermediate Cup.

Roesiders manager Oran Kearney is being cautious despite Holywood's lowly position in their respective league this season.

"Obviously we will be cautious about this game especially with the two shock defeats that we have had against 'junior' opponents this season," said Kearney.

He added: "We will be making sure that we don't get chinned in this game because we do not want to suffer another defeat.

Although we don't know much about them we will be making sure that we are fully prepared and we will know everything about them.

It has been a bit of a mess recently as we haven't been able to train because of the pitches being frozen although we did train indoors.

It's not ideal however as a few players were complaining of blisters but we don't have any choice at the moment because of the weather," concluded Kearney.

Lee Patrick and Damian McNulty have fully recovered from injury and will be available for selection for this fixture.

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