NEWRY CITY AFC: Reality over romance for Darren Mullen ahead of Premiership debut

Mullen will step out this weekend for his first taste of Premiership football both relishing the challenge and reflecting on the determination behind the dream.

That fight to maintain the principles of team spirit and togetherness essential to the rapid rise has been central to Mullen’s summer work.

“Having so many players from the Newry area has undoubtedly been a big part of our success, with that commitment to the club,” said Mullen. “But the situation is the pool of players with the quality we require gets diminished the higher up the league ladder you go.

“Once you start bringing in players from beyond the region it is vital you keep the changing room right.

“Hunger has always been a big part of why we’ve achieved what we have, hunger as a club and hunger in individuals.

“Ability alone is never enough and the attitude must be right to come into the club and not disrupt that ethos.

“But we feel we have identified transfer targets capable of bringing those characteristics to the table.

“We have a squad of players, some with previous top-flight experience but guys keen to prove a point.

“Some may have felt they did not get a fair chance to showcase ability at other clubs, some are fighting back from setbacks and others, of course, are looking to use this platform to prove a point that they can perform at the highest level.”

Mullen accepts Newry’s limited finances place the club as one of the favourites for relegation but rejects any idea of romance over reality.

“We do not want it to be a fairytale story of Newry climbing up the divisions for one season in the Premiership,” said Mullen. “If on the outside looking in I would completely understand us as a relegation candidate.

“We accept this will be our toughest challenge to date but the club is a Premiership club not by chance but by hard work and ability.

“An attractive style of football has stood by us but you cannot go into the season naive.

“You must adapt and alter to suit the situation but still stick by those principles.

“The mental challenge will be interesting as we would be used to dominating possession and scoring goals over the past five seasons.

“But we’ve talked about preparing for setbacks and those difficult times will prove the real test of character.

“However, there is no negativity, we will come out of any situation the better for the experience and determined to enjoy it.”