Newcastle Town Swifts
Opening game: Killough (A)
Newcastle Town Swifts, the reserve team of the newly formed Newcastle Town club, are the newest addition to the Newcastle League and will open the 2024/25 campaign with a tough away trip to Killough.
Wayne Lennon, who managed Newcastle Swifts (the reserve side of Newcastle FC) will be leading the team, alongside Bob Smart.
Player-manager Lennon, commenting on pre-season draws with Killough and Ballyvea, and a 5-3 defeat to Rathfriland Rangers U-21s on Saturday, said: “We’ve been giving them tough matches to get them used to playing against the better teams in the league and hopefully we can improve on last year.”
Newcastle Swifts finished top of the Premier Lower Division last year. Lennon wants to improve on that performance with the Town Swifts, eyeing up a run in one of the Newcastle League cups and a potential top half finish.
“Depending on how the first team get on and if players aren’t cup-tied, then we could be looking to get into the latter stages of one of the (Bobby Dalzell or Harry Clarke) cups.
“Then maybe we’ll look at breaking the barrier of the top half of the league. Over the past couple of years, we’ve been progressing.
“Last year we finished at the top of the bottom half (Premier Lower Division), so we want to try and break into that top four and keep progressing that way.”
However, the priority will be ensuring the younger Swifts players have a pathway into the Newcastle Town first team.
Players like Zack Curran, Reece McAreavy and Mackenzie Valentine all played first team football towards the end of last season, and Lennon wants to ensure more of his players get the opportunity to impress new Town manager Ryan McConville.
“The main part of my job is to get youth team players ready for first team football and pass them on to Ryan, then he can make his own opinions on them.
“The main thing is to get them enjoying their football to start with and then if they keep progressing the way they have been over the past couple of years, I don’t see why they can’t be pushing on.
“It’s all about implementing what the first team is doing and getting them ready for that level,” the former first team goalkeeper explained.
The full story includes interviews with Drumaness Mills Reserves manager Stephen Boyd, and Castlewellan Forest manager Conall Burns.
