From Bourneview to Mourneview and back again, Mid-Ulster star has 'feeling of being home' after time in the Irish League

Having scored 36 goals across competitions for Mid-Ulster Intermediate A side Bourneview Mill throughout the 2022/23 campaign, Nesbitt made the huge leap straight into the Premiership with Gary Hamilton’s Lurgan Blues last summer, racking up 10 league appearances and a maiden top-flight goal against Dungannon Swifts – a match which ultimately proved to be the manager’s last of a 12-year tenure.

Nesbitt had started four league games on the trot before Stephen McDonnell was appointed in late-September and with new personnel comes a new direction.

The 24-year-old played 75 more minutes in the league from that point and started in three cup matches before heading to Annagh United and this summer returned to Pepperton Park, where Nesbitt has been appointed club captain and netted four times in as many league matches.

"It's like coming back home knowing everyone,” he said. “It's not the same team we had from a couple of years ago but it's the same feeling of being home.

"Going to Glenavon didn't really work out and neither did going to Annagh so it was about getting back to enjoying football. The manager is my boss at work and he talked to me about coming back and I wanted to help the club out.

"I loved my time at Glenavon under Gary, but the atmosphere probably wasn't great at the time when we weren't getting results.

"Hamilton left and the new manager came in...he had his own ideas and wanted to bring in his own players in January. He needed to get results straight away so it was disappointing in that way. I wish I could have stayed on longer."

Trading Intermediate football for the Irish League isn’t the traditional path trodden with Nesbitt swapping playing in front of a handful of spectators for sitting on the bench at Windsor Park and Solitude, where he made his Premiership debut.

"Bourneview did really well the season before and were playing some brilliant football,” he reflected on how the move came about. “We'd got into cup finals and were going for the league and a lot of people were talking about it.

"Kyle Neill was about Bourneview playing for the seconds and would be good mates with Gary Hamilton so I'm assuming he put in a good word for me! Gary phoned me and I went down to training and ended up signing for them.

"I really enjoyed it and it was a brilliant experience getting to go to the biggest clubs in those stadiums playing in front of fans. It was completely different to what I was used to."

That experience has also helped give Nesbitt a taste for what’s required to play at the highest level in Northern Ireland and the striker hopes it isn’t his last opportunity in the Irish League, but for now the main aim is helping Bourneview Mill gain promotion back to Intermediate A.

"I loved it at the time and I'd like to go again in the future hopefully,” he added. "Looking back now I probably didn't give it a good go and now I wanted to get myself going again and scoring goals. You don't know what will happen in the future."