Congratulations to Johnstown’s Senior Men’s 1st team on their promotion from the NEFL John Gorman Motors Division 2.
An opening day defeat away to Torro Utd, which remains their only league defeat with 1 game left at the time of writing, followed by 2 draws in their next 2 games meant Johnstown had just 2 points from their opening 3 games. Far from an ideal springboard for the season to come.
September and October saw Johnstown rack up 6 successive wins, including their first win over eventual champions Athboy Celtic, scoring 28 goals among which was a club record of 6 goals in one game from Kacper Zeberek away to Newtown United, seeing them rise steadily up the division.
The end of October saw the return fixture against Torro and a chance to atone for the opening day defeat. A fractious encounter saw the home side reduced to 9 men but they managed to hold on for a point against the visitors who are the only side Johnstown have not beaten at least once in the league this season and are currently in line for a playoff.
With the winter break closing rapidly, it was important Johnstown did not let this draw disrupt their momentum. November saw them finish off the first half of the season with 2 wins and a draw at home.
As cup competitions took centre stage in the new year, Johnstown were limited to just one game a month in the league throughout January, February and March. Again, winning 2 drawing 1 but stretching their unbeaten league run to 15 games.
April began with a return trip to Athboy Celtic. A stunning free kick from Mark Grumley saw Johnstown complete the double and become the only team to stop the newly crowned division 2 champions from taking maximum points.
2 walkovers followed giving Johnstown the final 6 points necessary to secure promotion. While it would have been nice to clinch promotion on the field, no one can argue with their performances for the duration of the season.
Congratulations to all players involved this season and to manager Iain Sheridan and his assistant Christy Kavanagh in masterminding a successful league campaign and good luck in Wednesday’s Fitzsimon cup clash against Trim Town.