Ex-Glenavon and Glentoran defender Jay Magee admits leading Dundela to Championship glory would be 'biggest achievement of my career'

The 35-year-old has led from the front as Stephen Gourley’s men have enjoyed a title charge, currently sitting one point adrift of leaders Institute but with two games in hand ahead of Saturday’s blockbuster clash with another contender, Portadown.

Only seven points separates Institute and fifth-placed Ballyclare Comrades while Bangor, who sit third, have put together a nine-game unbeaten league run to throw themselves right into the mix for what is set to be a thrilling race.

Magee was part of a Glens side that won the 2012/13 Irish Cup by beating Cliftonville 3-1 after extra-time, ending the club’s nine-year wait for a 27th competition triumph at Windsor Park.

Now, he’s hoping to help their east Belfast neighbours reach new heights by booking a spot amongst the country’s elite and believes it would trump any previous accolade.

The Wilgar Park outfit have endured a difficult period, winning just one of their last four league games, but Magee is confident Dundela possess the quality to get back on track.

"I've always said that winning the league with Dundela would be the biggest achievement of my career,” he said. “There's still plenty of work to do. Hopefully come the split we can be sitting around the top and have a chance of doing it.

"We're more than confident of getting back on track (after tricky spell) because we've the ability and players there to do it, but it's just about getting the confidence back up.

"We threw some of the games away with silly mistakes that cost us, but if we cut them mistakes out we're more than confident.

"We weren't expecting to be sitting top of the table at Christmas so that was a bonus. We've games in hand so it's still in our hands, but we will see where it takes us."

With so much change taking place at the club last summer in terms of both management and playing personnel, Magee admits they’ve been outperforming expectations with their title charge.

"There wasn't really an aim for us,” he added. “With a new manager coming in and players leaving we were trying to assemble a squad, give it a rattle and see how we went.

"The top-six would have been brilliant for us with the amount of players that we lost, but we've found ourselves sitting top at Christmas and we don't want to lose that spot. We have to keep plugging away.

"I worked with Stephen for three or four years previously and he knows everything about Dundela. The club were saying that we needed a proper Dundela club man in.

"It's important to have people there around the club who know what it means. We lost so many players over the last year so it's been great to have Stephen there and players that care so much about the club.

"He has had a great impact. The coaching staff are great with the players and the training has been brilliant. It's about attack vs defence every time, getting the ball wide and into the box. It's helping us all out."