BY MATTHEW WILSON

Glenea United boss Sean Coll is hoping his outfit can retain their position in the Premier Division this season as the side prepare for their first campaign back in the top flight.

Following two years away from the Premier Division, Glenea United have returned to the big time after lifting the Division One title last season which manager Coll insists was great for the club.

“Last year was great, I don’t know if we probably anticipated winning a league before it started but we just built into it as the season went on.”

The Division One champions have managed to keep hold of the majority of their title winning squad from last season while also adding Tiernan McGinty and Carragher Friel to the group ahead of the upcoming Premier Division campaign.

However, they’ll be missing a number of players for the opening period of the season due to long-term injuries, all whom Sean Coll described as losses to the group.

“It’s much the same, we’ve kept everyone that was there for the majority of last year. Tiernan McGinty signed back from Institute. Carragher Friel signed back but he’s out long-term as he tore his cruciate playing Gaelic”, said the Glenea United manager.

He continued, “It’s much the same and if I could have them week on week I’d be happy enough but there’s just a few long term injuries like Ciaran Coll, Caolan McNulty, Ethan Friel and PJ Doogan who are all out until Christmas.”

“They’re all losses, we don’t have the depth that the top teams would have. We’ll just have to manage and navigate our way through the first few games and see where we are at Christmas time.”

The competition is fierce within the Premier Division which Sean Coll is well aware of ahead of the new campaign.

For the season ahead, the Glenea Boss discussed that the target for the group is to keep themselves within the league. He stated that the aim will be to try and reach the 20-point mark and hope that it’s adequate enough to retain their position for another year.

“I’d say this season is just about trying to stay up and consolidate for a season and seeing how we fare.”

“Twenty points will be the target first time around and hopefully it’ll be enough to keep us up or thereabouts. We’ll have to wait and see how the season plans then after.”