Laurelvale captain David Sinton not getting carried away despite unbeaten start to season

​The Vale booked their spot back in the second-tier for this season after winning the Section Two title in 2022 and could barely have dreamed of a better return.

They only won four of 18 league matches the last time they played at this level five years ago but are already making significant progress towards bettering that points tally this term by picking up consecutive home victories.

Despite the early success, Sinton’s sights are still firmly set on gaining stability and experience ahead of Saturday’s Gallagher Challenge Cup first round clash with Muckamore.

"If you give me eighth now I'd take it!" he laughed.

"Any time we've came up we have been a yo-yo club and we just want to strive for stability.

"We probably look at it as us being a Section one-and-a-half club if that makes sense because we've struggled to stay up but are good in Section Two.

"It's about staying up and gaining that bit of stability.

"We want to give the young guys an extra year experience to help them kick on.

"By no means are we getting ahead of ourselves after two wins.

"No one is thinking we're fighting for a top-four finish or anything like that.

"We have a good mix of young players coming through combined with a bit of experience.

"The good thing about the cup for us is that it's a free hit ultimately.

"We're not going to win the Challenge Cup so that's a free hit and we will get back to league action on Sunday (against Cregagh).

"We're competing and we want to gain the confidence to say 'we can compete at this level'.

"We've played against two teams with professionals as well and the stats of pros against us the last time we were up was mental. It's good to compete and hopefully we can kick on from there."

Laurelvale are one of only three Section One teams that have opted not to acquire the services of an overseas player for this season – something which could ultimately make life very difficult at times throughout the campaign.

They will be hoping Adnan Malik can produce similar swashbuckling performances with the bat as he has in recent years, scoring 196* against Lurgan in 2021 and 176 in victory over Monaghan last season.

The squad has a fresh look to it compared to their last venture and Sinton has been impressed with how their young guns have stepped up.

"Financially it's not viable and that's just the bottom line,” he added.

"We knew from the beginning that we weren't going to have one.

"There are very few scars there now. In our team on Saturday we probably had six or seven that haven't played for us in Section One before.

"We've added the young players who have performed well.

"John Speers, Adam Speers and Mark Thornbury all scored runs on Saturday, Jack Burns took both the Templepatrick pro and Ross Bryans first ball and Adam took three wickets as well.

"Adbul is only 23 as well so there's a lot of young players with the ball and we have Adnan who didn't play Saturday, didn't trouble on Monday but he's quality and we know that he will win us at least one or two matches on his own.

"That gives us confidence and we're coming in with a mindset change.

"I know it has been seven months or so since our last match but we've taken that momentum from last season into this one straight away.

"The winning mentality is there and the boys are looking to challenge themselves."

The Challenge Cup isn’t a competition Laurelvale have experienced much joy in but they do have recent cup success to their name having won the Junior Cup in 2021.

"There are probably very few (memories) because this isn't a competition we've competed very well in,” said Sinton.

"We always find ourselves in this preliminary or first round and not going much further!

"I remember playing North Down at Laurelvale and I was on 30-odd and very scared!

"Marty Dalzell was running in and I'm thinking what am I doing here.

"It's not a competition we've had much success in and yes it would be nice to continue our momentum on Saturday but it's not the end of the world if not."

They welcome a Muckamore side to Mullavilly Road that will be many people’s favourites to win the Section One title this season with their winter recruitment adding significant strength.

Sinton is embracing that challenge and views it as another test for his squad to see where they stand.

"They have recruited well over the winter,” he added.

"Ben Calitz and Vinoth (Srinivasan) played against us last year and I know Ben scored a fifty against us and he's a quality player.

"You'd have to look at them as one of the top teams in the league so it's another good yardstick for us.

"To beat Ballymena and Templepatrick - who were second and third in the league last season - you're continually challenging yourself and seeing where you are.

"I know we will need to be at our very best to come out with a win."