​Dancing destroyer Fuad Sule happy to delay Larne title party

The Nigeria-born smiling assassin has proven a firm fans’ favourite within the Inver Park support for his role in the heart of the engine room and the centre of celebrations during Larne’s climb out of the Championship and towards the top of the Premiership.

His high-energy performances have also led to widespread acclaim from rival managers and players in recognition of the 26-year-old’s value to the Larne playing style across both the second-tier panache and first-grade grind.

Sule appears in constant pursuit of the ball between the first and final whistles but admits he is happy to now show patience and play the waiting game to get his hands on the Gibson Cup.

Larne will lift the Premiership trophy on Friday in front of a packed Inver Park when Linfield visit in the penultimate fixture of the league campaign.

Essentially a changing of the Irish League guard given Linfield’s dominance as champions across each of the past four seasons, Sule is counting down the days until the celebrations.

“This is the pinnacle of my career, there is no doubt of that,” said Sule following Friday’s 2-0 win over Crusaders which put Larne into an unassailable lead over Linfield in the league standings. “I’m still 26, I feel I’ve still a long career ahead of me.

“I’m going to savour this moment and enjoy it...if anything, it has given me the desire for even more success.

“We’ll not get our hands on the trophy for another week, but to be honest I’d wait a month now that we are over the finish line.

“I know nothing can go wrong from this moment in time, so I’ll wait as long as needs be.

“I know the fans are itching to get their hands on the trophy and celebrate with us, but that will all happen.

“We’ll now prepare for the Linfield game as we do for any other match.

“We’ll go to try to win the game, even though we have achieved our dream.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling, I really can’t put it into words.

“I’m still trying to take it all in and process what we’ve achieved.

“Maybe within the next day or two I’ll reflect on things and enjoy it.

“It’s a testament to the boys, it’s a brilliant group.

“We work so hard every day in training.

"This is just a by-product of all the hard work we do.”

A defining and decisive run of three successive wins over Glentoran, Cliftonville and Crusaders – each by a 2-0 margin – pushed Larne over the finish line across the first tests of the post-split Premiership programme.

It served up the latest statement of intent by a Larne squad now built to bank points by any means necessary.

Sule remains central to any progress and was quick to highlight the importance of that added grit to go with the familiar grace on show in previous seasons.

Statistics reflect that sense of resolve from Sule – with Larne conceding on just 18 occasions across 36 league tests towards title glory, built on a record of 25 wins and seven draws.

“We’ve won the first three games in the split, it’s basically down to confidence,” said Sule on Friday night during the Seaview celebrations. “We always knew from last season and the season before that, our Achilles heel was always we conceded too many goals.

“We always scored goals and we always played good, attacking football but we always leaked too many goals.

“So, we had a target this season – to keep the back door shut.

"We knew if we did that, we’d give ourselves a chance (at winning the title).

“I’ve been here a few years, just under five years now, but I feel this is just the start of what this team can achieve.

“It feels like yesterday when I walked through the door.

“For some reason, I always had belief; I knew we would reach our goal eventually.

“I believed that while I was at the club, I’d get my hands on the league title.

“I’m really happy that I’ve done that and I’m really happy for the fans, the players and the boys that have been here from the start, people like Tomas (Cosgrove), Graham (Kelly), Jeff (Hughes)...boys that have been on the journey for a long time.

“We at last got to where we wanted to be.”

Sule also acknowledged the impact of a first league title in the club’s 134-year history beyond the football field.“It means everything for the town,” he said. “These people from the town.

“The town has a bad reputation; certain people look down on the town and the people who are from there.

“I have emersed myself in the town; I’ve put myself right in there among the people, the fans and supporters.

“So, this is for them, they deserve it.

“Maybe this is a little bit of good luck for the people of the town.

"They can take great pride in what we have achieved.

“We’ve performed consistently well this season and, as people say, the league table doesn’t lie.

"I think no-one can say we didn’t deserve it.

“We’ve been humble in defeat and we are also humble in victory.

“We are going to go again to try and be as successful as we can.”