Institute manager Brian Donaghey aiming for positive Brandywell finale

Institute manager Brian Donaghey is adamant his players will give their all to finish their 2021/22 campaign on a positive note when they face Knockbreda, at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, on Saturday (KO 3pm).
Institute manager Brian Donaghey is aiming for his side to finish the season with another three points against Knockbreda, on Saturday.Institute manager Brian Donaghey is aiming for his side to finish the season with another three points against Knockbreda, on Saturday.
Institute manager Brian Donaghey is aiming for his side to finish the season with another three points against Knockbreda, on Saturday.

Donaghey wants his players to pull out all the stops against the Belfast men in an attempt to secure a sixth victory from their last seven games, with the ’Stute manager hoping they take their end of season form into the next season.

“We spoke about it last week after the Dundela game when I sort of demanded that we put on a show on Saturday, especially for our fans who have really stuck by us this season,” he insisted.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I want the fans, the players and everyone connected with the club, to be going home happy. I want us to continue the good results we’ve had at the Brandywell of late. Yes, a few people might get an opportunity in terms of some of the younger lads but we’ll still have a very competitive team and I expect to win the game.

“Listen, if results go our way you could end up winning six out of our last seven games which is promotion form, never mind relegation form. Hopefully that bit of momentum will take us in then to pre-season.”

Donaghey is also insistent that his players haven’t ‘downed tools’ so to speak after they secured their Lough 41 Championship status a few games ago.

“There has been a feel good factor around the club and even after Saturday’s defeat, we know that we were down to the bare bones. Hopefully we have a few people back for this week so, yeah, we’ll be looking to try and keep our momentum that we have and hopefully we’ll get another positive result,” he explained.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I want to go out on a high, because I don’t want it thrown at us as well that we ‘downed tools’ once we were safe’ because that’s not the case. I won’t have it in any team that I’m involved in.

“Hopefully I have a few extra bodies back for Saturday although I don’t think I’ll have too many because we have a lot of long term injuries.

“We also have had players playing through the pain barrier for us up until last week but, listen, we’ll have a good enough team on the pitch on Saturday which will then hopefully put in a performance and get a positive result.”

The ’Stute boss is already starting work for next season and while he concedes transfer windows are a stressful time, he’s also looking forward to assembling his squad for the new campaign.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I’ll be honest, I have been on the phone four hours today (Thursday) and I’m constantly ringing people over the last few days,” he added.

“So listen, work for next season actually started the day and hour we were safe, because I don’t want Institute being in that position again and it’s my job to makes ure that I get the personnel around the place so that doesn’t happen and instead, make sure we are challenging at the top of the table.”

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.