Moyola Park manager Mervyn Pattison is hoping cup success will convert into league progress.
The Mill Meadow outfit sit bottom of the Premier Intermediate League table without a win to show from their three games so far.
However, they proved again at the weekend they can produce the goods in the knockout competitions.
A 4-2 win away to Derriaghy CC took them into the next round of the Intermediate Cup with four different goalscorers making the difference.
Next they have a quarter-final in the Craig Memorial Cup against Desertmartin having beaten Coleraine Reserves in the previous round, four days after success against the Bannsiders’ first team in the North West Cup.
Only one club has won the Craig Memorial more times than Moyola Park but it’s more than a decade now since they last got their hands on the trophy.
That success in 2005/06 was their fifth triumph in the space of six golden years.
And Pattison concedes it’s been too long since they brought the cup back to the club.
“Every season we target the Craig Memorial as one we really want to win,” admitted Pattison.
“We’re not alone in that because Portstewart, Tobermore and others will have the exact same thoughts.
“It’s a great competition, like the Steel and Sons and Bob Radcliffe for teams in those areas.
“Desertmartin will be really up for the match on Saturday because it’s a local derby and also they’ll see us as a scalp.
“I’m expecting a very tough match against a really good club but if our attitude is good, like it was at the weekend, then we’ve got the quality to progress to the semi-final and go on and win it.
“We’ve only had three league games so far and all of them have been tight matches.
“Bar the Irish Cup, we’ve been doing well in the cups this season so I’ve set the players the target of a cup run.
“It brings a bit of a buzz to the club and lifts everyone.
“HopeFully if we can do that it would carry into the league as well and we’d then go on and get wins on the board there too.”
Moyola picked up a 4-2 victory away to Derriaghy CC in Saturday’s opening Intermediate Cup tie at Seycon Park.
Lundy and McQuillan had them 2-1 up at the interval with Taggart and Rafferty making sure of the result in the second half.
It was one of those banana skin cup ties which was made even more slippery by the absence of two key goal threats from the Moyola line-up.
And Pattison was pleased with how the team shouldered the responsibility of goals between themselves.
He added: “We saw when we played Brantwood in the Irish Cup a few weeks ago that these teams can put you out if you’re not on it.
“Derriaghy was a good set-up and they have some good players, some of them have played in the Irish League.
“I was impressed by them. They set up well and in games like that you have to want it more than they do.
“I was very pleased with how our players dealt with the threats they posed and the way they overcame the challenge.
“Chris Dowie is out injured and we lost big Danny McIlhatton to an injury in training.
“Danny has scored 11 in seven from centre midfield and Chris will obviously score you plenty of goals too.
“I said to the boys before the Derriaghy game that we needed others to step up and score goals now, not just Tiarnan Rafferty.
“Thankfully they did that with four different lads on the scoresheet and it was great to see young Taggart back in the team and scoring too.
“We’re working with a relatively small squad so we’re hoping to integrate some of the talented young players in the reserves into the first team.
“Getting a manager in place there will help so hopefully we’ll get that this week and then can kick on.
“There are a couple of players definitely capable of stepping up so it’s up to them now. That’s how we’re going to progress as a club because we don’t have the finances to compete with other sides, so we need to focus on developing players to come through our own club.”
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