Lynch: Last year not good enough
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St Patrick's Athletic captain Damian Lynch has described last season as “not good enough” and is hopeful of a better campaign in 2010 as he spoke to Extratime about the upcoming season.
Having overcome a relegation battle last season, Lynch is in no doubts that he doesn’t want to be in the same situation again as The Super Saints have set their sights a lot higher for this year.
“Last game of the season going in worrying about relegation, that’s not good enough for St Patrick's Athletic and we know that," said Lynch.
"This year last game of the season hopefully we’re looking for a European spot, rather than a relegation match.”
Lynch, who is starting his third campaign with the Inchicore club, believes that the team will need time to gel together with so many new faces coming into the club.
"I think it will take time, any manager or coach will tell you that it takes about three or four months to get any team together," he stated.
"There are lot of young players as well so it will take us a good five to six games to get into it, get used to positions and hopefully we can crack on pretty quick. It’s all about clean sheets and being defensively strong first and build on it then.”
However, Lynch retains the hope of lifting a trophy at the club and he was quick to state that the cup competitions could be their best route to glory this season.
“You look at some of the great players who have played for the club and if I could be in the same bracket as them lifting a trophy, whether its league cup, Setanta Cup, FAI cup or the league. If I got a chance to lift a cup at this club it would be fantastic," he said.
The Saints captain hopes that the supporters who remained loyal during their relegation battle will continue to help the side as they vow to improve on last year.
"With the young side we have, we really need all the supporters on board to encourage the young players on the pitch. I think the supporters know it’s a young group, we need them to create a very good atmosphere, to fortress the place," he said.
"When I was at Bohemians, this was always a very tough place to go because of the support. We want to get as many locals in as possible and give them a good Friday night, something to cheer about. Hard work will do that number one and then hopefully we can string a few results together and get them in."
Lynch knows that a good start to the season is vital and defeat on the opening weekend is not an option for the Inchicore club.
"Galway took 12 off us last season so the first thing we want to do is to stop that. Giving 12 points to one team is far too much, especially a team that were in around relegation with us," he admitted.
"We’ll be looking to not get beaten, that’s the most important thing first game of the season, you do not want to be beaten. We cannot get beaten, simple as that. We’ll be very disappointed if we are."
Having overcome a relegation battle last season, Lynch is in no doubts that he doesn’t want to be in the same situation again as The Super Saints have set their sights a lot higher for this year.
“Last game of the season going in worrying about relegation, that’s not good enough for St Patrick's Athletic and we know that," said Lynch.
"This year last game of the season hopefully we’re looking for a European spot, rather than a relegation match.”
Lynch, who is starting his third campaign with the Inchicore club, believes that the team will need time to gel together with so many new faces coming into the club.
"I think it will take time, any manager or coach will tell you that it takes about three or four months to get any team together," he stated.
"There are lot of young players as well so it will take us a good five to six games to get into it, get used to positions and hopefully we can crack on pretty quick. It’s all about clean sheets and being defensively strong first and build on it then.”
However, Lynch retains the hope of lifting a trophy at the club and he was quick to state that the cup competitions could be their best route to glory this season.
“You look at some of the great players who have played for the club and if I could be in the same bracket as them lifting a trophy, whether its league cup, Setanta Cup, FAI cup or the league. If I got a chance to lift a cup at this club it would be fantastic," he said.
The Saints captain hopes that the supporters who remained loyal during their relegation battle will continue to help the side as they vow to improve on last year.
"With the young side we have, we really need all the supporters on board to encourage the young players on the pitch. I think the supporters know it’s a young group, we need them to create a very good atmosphere, to fortress the place," he said.
"When I was at Bohemians, this was always a very tough place to go because of the support. We want to get as many locals in as possible and give them a good Friday night, something to cheer about. Hard work will do that number one and then hopefully we can string a few results together and get them in."
Lynch knows that a good start to the season is vital and defeat on the opening weekend is not an option for the Inchicore club.
"Galway took 12 off us last season so the first thing we want to do is to stop that. Giving 12 points to one team is far too much, especially a team that were in around relegation with us," he admitted.
"We’ll be looking to not get beaten, that’s the most important thing first game of the season, you do not want to be beaten. We cannot get beaten, simple as that. We’ll be very disappointed if we are."
About Brendan White
Brendan White is Extratime News Editor and is responsible for the news section of Extratime.ie. Brendan also covers matches in Dublin and Waterford. You can contact Brendan on twitter @whitebrendan. View Full Profile