Niall Murray saluted “the desire” of Ballynahinch Olympic after a battling 2-0 win at Islandmagee on Saturday boosted their hopes of staying in the Premier Division.
It’s been a tough campaign to date for Olympic and the new management team of Murray, Barry Reid and Barry McGoran, particularly after a torrid start where they lost seven from their opening eight in all competitions.
But while Murray concedes his club, who led the top flight two years ago before Covid hit, are still far off where he wants them to be, six wins in the intervening period has pushed them up into the relative safety of mid-table.
Even so, he remains acutely aware there’s work to do, with Olympic requiring at least another two wins in his view before they can consider themselves clear of the dogfight.
“We were strong on Saturday,” said the Olympic player-manager. “We played really well the week before at Ards Rangers, we should have taken something from the game (a 3-2 defeat) in all honesty.
“And we beat Killyleagh the week before that so we were sort of hitting a wee bit of momentum.
“I would say we’re still in a sticky patch, it was always just about getting through this season and staying in the league and getting away from the bottom.
“The problem is everyone down around the bottom is winning as well, Drumaness have started to go well, fair play to them.
“But I think another two wins would probably get us safe. Now 1st Bangor are right in it too, 1st Bangor, Drumaness, Killyleagh, Larne Tech and ourselves.
“The rest of them, Shankill and Crumlin United, they have too many games and they are doing alright so they’ll be dead on.”
Victory over the Islanders came after goals from Chrissy McNamara and Jason Noade, with Murray delighted at the “desire” his players showed.
“(We) showed heart, desire and balls, credit to the players, that’s what it’s about,” he said.
“Islandmagee were very good, I was well impressed with them the first half, they pass the ball well but we were just resolute and worked hard.”
