HAVING won the Irish Cup twice as a player, Stephen McAlorum is always keen to do well in the competition, but he admits Saturday’s round one clash against Ballymacash Rangers comes as his Belfast Celtic squad is stretched to its limits.
The West Belfast side have already won their first two games of the season. After starting off the new campaign with a 1-0 win at Rosario in the Steel and Sons Cup, McAlorum’s side battled to a 3-2 win over Brantwood in their Ballymena and Provincial Intermediate League opener on Tuesday night at Glen Road Heights.
Belfast Celtic have home advantage for Saturday’s clash with the Lisburn side, who play in the Mid-Ulster League, but their manager says he will be forced to rotate his squad for the Irish Cup tie.
“At the minute, we have maybe three or four boys out injured and a few more on holiday so we really are down to the bare bones,” said McAlorum.
“They (Ballymacash) are a very good side and it will provide a good test for us. As a group, you always look forward to playing in the Irish Cup, but it just falls at a time when we’ll be giving people game time because we’re so busy in August.
“Players will get an opportunity to show what they can do on Saturday. We’ve a lot of league games coming up and you are trying to keep the boys as fresh as possible.”
McAlorum himself is ruled out of action for up to six weeks following last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Rosario.
New signing Jasir Camera scored the game’s only goal, but his gaffer lasted only five minutes and will miss the next few weeks with a broken bone in his foot and ankle ligament damage.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be good and I got an x-ray during the week so that’s me out for five or six weeks,” added McAlorum.
“It was a good match (against Rosario). They are a good side, very dogged at the back and they made us work for our 1-0 win. We had to just keep plugging away and, thankfully we got the win.
“It is going to be hectic over the coming weeks. I think we’ve seven or eight games throughout August – we are playing Tuesday and Saturdays for the next while.
“That’s what the squad is there for and we’ve plenty of players who can come in and do a job for us.”
To add to McAlorum’s concerns, the Antrim GAA Club Championship season is now underway and some of the squad won’t be available for selection until their team has exited their respective Championships.
“Most of our GAA boys are dual players so they play football and hurling,” said McAlorum.
“We are missing a lot of those players at the minute. You have to give them boys a bye until they are ready and they’ll come back in maybe towards the middle or end of September.
“It is something we have to deal with, we know what we signed up for. The boys are always transparent with us. If they can make they games, they can make them, but we have to get on with it.”
Crumlin Star also have a large contingent of GAA players in their squad and share Fennell Park with Ardoyne and Pearse’s.
Manager Paul Trainor has become accustomed to juggling the training loads of his players at this time of the year. “We just have to go easy on the GAA players,” stated Trainor.
“We’ve three or four boys in the first team squad who play GAA and more in the reserves and they are entering their Championship season. You know they are knocking their pan in when they are training with the GAA teams, so we don’t need to do much with them – we just let them get on with it.”
The North Belfast side have a fine record in cup competitions in recent times, famously winning the Intermediate Cup in 2019.
On Saturday, they’ll face the team who succeeded them as champions in that particular competition when they travel to Dollingstown for their Irish Cup opener.
On the face on it, it is the toughest draw Crumlin Star could have faced, yet Trainor’s side have tended to fare well when cast in the role of underdogs.
They defeated both Annagh United and Queen’s in the Intermediate Cup run of 2019 while they also claimed a fifth round Irish Cup victory over Loughgall in the same season.
“It is a big ask – Dollingstown have aspirations of doing well in their league and getting up into the Championship,” said Trainor.
“This is their first game of the season, but they’d played a lot of high-profile friendlies against the likes of Portadown and Glenavon so they’ll be pretty sharp.
“We’ll go down with our usual plan and we’ll see what comes of it. It is probably the tie of the round. It will be a big challenge in the first round of the Irish Cup, but it is one we are looking forward to – we’ll be ready for the challenge.
“I’d have preferred if the game was five or six games down the line, it is very early the new season, but what can you do?
“Over the last four or five years since I’ve been at the club, we’ve done very well in the cup competitions.
“When we play teams from a higher league, we always give a good account of themselves.”
Crumlin Star boss Paul Trainor says his side are looking forward to Saturday's Irish Cup clash at Dollingstown 
Crumlin Star have already made a winning start to the new season with skipper Barry McKervey bagging a hat-trick in last Saturday’s 6-0 win at Shankill United as Trainor’s men got their new NAFL Premier Division campaign off to the perfect start.
“It is usually a tough match, a derby match away to Shankill,” reflected Trainor.
“On Saturday we scored an early goal and Shankill had to come out at us. We scored some very good goals against them and I couldn’t believe we were 4-0 up at half-time. It was a pretty tight game, it was strange to be so far in front at the break.
“We managed to keep a clean sheet and we got another two goals in the second half so it was very pleasing.”
For Rosario, meanwhile, they’ve ambitions of joining Crumlin Star in the top flight of the NAFL next season.
The South Belfast men will be expected to come through their Irish Cup opener against Division 1C outfit Woodvale on Saturday, but manager Barry Baggley insists his side will be taking nothing for granted.
“We go into every game preferring to be the underdog,” said Baggley.
“We’ll be going out with expectations of winning the game. We won’t be underestimating Woodvale by any stretch. The minute you do that is the minute you end up with egg on your face. We’ll be treating the game with the respect it deserves.
“We have a few boys out for different reasons, we’ve a few boys playing Gaelic and a few on holidays, but we’ve a 20-man squad and no injury concerns. After Saturday, we are back out on Tuesday against Lisburn Rangers in the league. We are really looking forward to that, because that is our bread and butter. The likes of the Irish Cup is a bonus for us.
“The main objective for this season is to be competing at the top end of the table and, hopefully, come February or March we’ll be in the mix for promotion.”
Baggley will be hoping his side can bounce back from last Saturday’s 1-0 loss in the Steel and Sons Cup to Belfast Celtic at Ulidia.
Despite the defeat, the Rosario manager insists he was pleased with the performance of his side and feels the positives outweighed the negatives.
“It is always disappointing to lose, but I was very pleased with the performance,” added Baggley.
“I knew it was going to be 1-0 either way. It was a very tight game and it was almost like the first goal wins. Unfortunately, after defending well all game, one lapse in concentration led to them scoring.
“In terms of the performance, I was happy enough. To be honest, the Steel and Sons Cup wasn’t high up on our list of priorities, so it isn’t the be all and end all.
“We’ve still work to do, but we are looking forward to Saturday’s Irish Cup game.”
Elsewhere on Saturday, NAFL Division 1B rivals St Luke’s and Aquinas clash at The Brook while St Oliver Plunkett take on Rosemont Rec at Lenadoon.
North Belfast side Malachians travel to Craigavon City while West Belfast outfit Clonard FC host Bangor Amateurs at The Brook (all games 1.30pm KO).
