Safety secured says Quinn

The season had started very promisingly for the Lurgan side with eight wins out of their first thirteen league matches and they even hit the top of the table after a 3-0 win over Newry City back in October but since then it’s been a struggle of a season for Quinn’s men.

The Blues failed to win in 11 league matches after losing to Portadown in October and so slipped into the bottom six. After ensuring safety, Quinn has set his side the target of finishing in seventh spot, the best now available.

“I think Saturday’s victory makes us safe, it would be a big ask for either Distillery or Insitute to catch us,” he began.

“When we were 1-0 down at 90 minutes on Saturday I thought we could be in a bit of trouble but we got there in the end.

“It was very unfortunate that we didn’t pick up more points during our bad run from October onwards. We were just a couple of wins away from the top six really. Hopefully we can get a run going between now and the end of the season and hopefully we can finish at the top of the bottom six anyway.”

After his side all but secured their spot away from the foot of the table, Quinn also didn’t rule out the possibility of seeing more of Gerard McMahon’s reserve side making the step up with Brendan Shannon, Ryan Murphy and Joe Finlay all already impressing for the first team.

“It depends on reports from Gerard McMahon and I’ll weigh things up. If a boy warrants coming into the first team then he’ll come in,” he told the ‘MAIL.’

And with this season drawing to a close, Quinn is beginning to set his sights on next season’s squad and will be discussing contracts with his players in the coming weeks.

“I’ll be speaking to the lads in the next week or two,” he said.

“I’ll be starting to conduct that sort of business now and I have a meeting with the board on Thursday. We’ll be having a chat and we’ll go from there.”