New Portadown recruit Ryan Mayse looking to play his part in delivering Premiership promotion

The 29-year-old was announced earlier this week as Niall Currie continues his impressive summer rebuild with Mayse joining the likes of Gary Thompson, Ross Redman and Caolin Coyle as new faces at the County Armagh outfit.

Midfield maestro Mayse has played against Portadown 17 times during his career, which started out with Dungannon Swifts and has included spells with Strathroy Harps, Dergview, Ballinamallard United and Ballymena United.

He joins on a three-year deal following a third spell at Stangmore Park and he’s determined to play his part in the Ports immediately bouncing back to the top-flight after last season’s relegation to the Championship.

"It was a hostile reception the odd time so hopefully the fans will be cheering me this time rather than booing!" he reflects on his previous trips to Shamrock Park. “That's part and parcel of my game - I'm a wind-up merchant getting under opposition player and fans skins.

"I'm a player where you either hate me or love me - there's no middle of the road.

"Hopefully I get them on side. I'm going to work hard for them and hopefully bring some good days back to Portadown Football Club and get out of the league."

Currie has made no secret of the fact that he has tried to acquire the services of Mayse on a number of occasions and he says it was an easy decision to make the move after speaking to his new manager – despite a new contract offer from the Swifts.

"From talking to Niall it was easy,” he added. “I had no correspondence from Dungannon in regards to next year so the only offer I had at that stage was from Portadown.

"Dungannon couldn't put out deals because they didn't know what league they were going to be in. They offered me a new deal on Saturday but I had agreed to meet Niall on Tuesday so I only had two days to ponder over it.

"I gave Niall my word and I was going because I wanted a new challenge and fresh start.

"Last year was a long, tough season at Dungannon and I lost a bit of love for the game and I'm looking to get that back now at Portadown and play week in, week out and win games of football.

"Niall was a massive factor. It's no secret that he has tried to sign me before and it didn't work out for different reasons but this time he has been constantly onto me and made me feel wanted, which is nice from a player's point of view.

"Talking to him and the way he sold the project to me was something that really interested me.

"He has kept on players from last year and signed really well so the future is looking bright and hopefully we can gel together quickly and achieve our goal of getting back into the Premiership.

"We haven't got it easy because we know every team we play against it will be a cup final for them so we know it's a big task at hand."

Many are comparing Portadown’s current squad with those in the bottom-half of the Premiership and although they’ll certainly be title favourites next season, Mayse says they aren’t taking anything for granted.

"There's definitely a good squad but hard work beats talent every day of the week so we have to work hard first and foremost then the talent will take over,” he said. “Niall has assembled a good squad and he's signed a lot of experience. All being well we will give it a good rattle.

"You just take a glance down through the squad and there is a lot of Premiership experience there.

"There's no secret that it's a Premiership squad in the Championship, but we are in the Championship so ultimately it's a Championship squad and you can't look at it any other way.

"Outsiders will have their opinions and will want to see us getting beat each week and see the underdogs take us down. We will take each game as it comes and treat it with the respect it deserves."