'I'd bite your hand off for it': Paul Owens clear Limavady United ready for 'huge' Premiership step
While Limavady United manager Paul Owens admits “if you offered me 10th now I'd bite your hand off for it”, he insists the Premiership newcomers aren't here to just make up numbers – and won’t go down without a fight against Northern Ireland’s elite.
After lifting the Championship title last term – an achievement which came just 24 months on from Premier Intermediate League glory – Limavady are back on the biggest stage for the first time in 18 years.
Owens’ side have got used to winning – a lot – over the past three seasons, sealing success in 60 of their 102 league matches and losing just 17.
Former Coleraine assistant Owens knows things could be a bit different this season as they prepare to take on full-time opposition – they start by visiting Glentoran on Saturday – and a host of ambitious clubs who have invested significantly to scale the Premiership table.
Promoted teams have enjoyed relative success in recent years with Newry City, Portadown, Loughgall and Bangor all able to preserve top flight status after ascending the Irish League's football pyramid.
While Limavady are priced as favourites for relegation, Owens is embracing the challenge of proving the doubters wrong, and is adamant his side won’t be sitting back.
"That's the message I'm going to send to the players – we've worked hard over the last couple of years, this has been the target and the dream,” he said. "Now we're here we just want to make sure we enjoy it, give it everything and see how far it takes us.
"Staying up is obvious (goal). If you offered me 10th now I'd bite your hand off for it.
"Like I've already said to the squad, there's four full-time teams multiplied by three fixtures so that's about a third of the season against full-time teams.
"It's going to be really difficult but I don't want to just watch my team sitting in and try to keep a score down – we want to have a go.
"The challenge will be trying to get something out of every game.
"We're very realistic that what success will look like this year is a bit different, there's no hiding that we will lose a lot more games than we did last year.
"Hopefully we can get enough points to stay in this league and kick on."
Limavady’s squad is packed full of players with Premiership experience – Stephen Lowry won the Gibson Cup at Linfield, while younger brother Philip has collected four league titles and six Irish Cups across a glittering career.
Former Coleraine skipper Stephen O’Donnell and ex-Northern Ireland international Danny Lafferty are amongst Owens’ summer recruits, and the Limavady chief is also excited by the prospect of seeing his young stars step up to a new level.
"We do have that experience throughout the team and they're going to hopefully set standards off the pitch as well,” he added. "Our squad is a bit smaller than last year, I think we have brought six or seven in and maybe eight or nine have left.
"One thing we have done is we've added real quality, a bit of youth and a bit of experience as well.
"Our front players, they've no real Premiership experience but we're hoping that can be a good thing. There's no real scars there.
"There's 20 really good players and a lot of hungry young lads looking to make their way in the game.
"They've progressed a hell of a lot over the last couple of years so we're hoping they continue their growth this season.”