After a winter of progress, Muckamore captain Neil Gill looking to make the most of 'fresh start' for 2023 season

The Moylena side start the new Section One campaign amongst the favourites for promotion after bringing in the likes of Ben Calitz, Sathish Suresh, Vinoth Srinivasan and veteran Ted Britton, who previously spent a hugely successful period with CIYMS.

Along with their hopeful progression on the pitch, Muckamore have also stepped up their game off it with an enhanced importance placed on social media, installation of NVPlay cameras so their matches can be viewed live online and further work being done to improve member experience.

"Last year we had intentions to win the league but just didn't have the right attitude from the start,” said Gill. “Sam (Gordon) and Jamie (Magowan) left halfway through the season and my intention was to come back (from Carrickfergus) and enjoy not having responsibilities.

"I did want to captain again at some stage, it's probably came a year too soon but I'm really looking forward to it.

"We have had a good pre-season, the boys are working hard and we have a good blend of youth and experience.

"We have guys there like myself who is 36, Keatesy (Richard Keates) is 42, Vinoth 38, Kyllin (Vardhan) 36, Ted is 41 and you have a lot of guys in their early-twenties. We have a good mixture and it's a fresh start.

"Next year is our 150th anniversary so the plan for me is to try and get the team promoted and be playing Premier League cricket in our 150th anniversary - that's the motivation.

"Take out the 150 years, this is where we want to be.

"We have been a yo-yo club but we've been relegated with six wins before.

"Now it's a 10-team league and there's a split we have no doubt that if we added a top pro into our team now we could finish mid-table.

"There was always the worry of what's the point in getting promoted if you're going to come straight back down? I don't think that's the case now with it being 10 teams.

"It's going to be a tough season because there are a lot of good teams and a lot of hard places to play cricket.

"You have to turn up with the right attitude because Section One really is a tough league to get out of."