Jobstown Celtic were looking to get promoted this season but find themselves in a race for the title
Jobstown are among contenders in league
JOBSTOWN Celtic find themselves in a title race halfway through the season in the Leinster Senior 1B Sunday division.
The side are back to winning ways following draws in the game before the Christmas break and the return game at the start of the month.
The two draws saw them knocked off the top spot by Raheny United and they now find themselves in second place on 33 points with Raheny one above on 34.
Jobstown got back to winning ways last weekend with a 3-1 victory over Leicester Celtic and will be hoping to regain their place at the pinnacle of the division with a win over Dunboyne AFC this Friday.
Manager Aaron Ryan Farrell touched on their season so far and expectations in the club for the conclusion of the campaign.
“At the start of the year we said the goal would be to get promoted. We got promoted last year and were looking to go back to back. Now looking at the table you’d probably be saying that we’d take promotion but there is a real chance at the league as well.”
Ryan-Farrell also touched on the importance of keeping a sense of community in the club and the success that this approach can have.
“Our senior team is only back running four or five years now so we tried to attract the best local talent that we could around the area. Thankfully we probably did, we did a good job and got local coaches in. It’s been good since then. When you have players that are fighting for the actual club itself rather than just a game of football it makes a difference. It means more for them.”
“We think it is important [to bring in local players] because they have a connection to the area. We want to make a good senior team so young players don’t have to go out of the area to play a good level of football.”
The side are still in their cup competitions, reaching a quarter final in two cups with the FAI intermediate cup to start at the end of February which they will also be competing in.
Ryan-Farrell spoke on the prospect of winning the Division 1B title.
“From the get go our goal was set on promotion but from where we are in the league we probably would be disappointed if we didn’t go and win it because we’ve had chances. It’s kind of ours to lose really with eight or nine games to go.”
Offering stiff competition to Jobstown Celtic are northside clubs Raheny United and Trinity Donaghmede who are in 1st and 3rd place respectively. Trinity may be six points behind but have three games in hand which can get them right back into the mix.
Jobstown have played both teams already this season and beaten both.
They still need to travel to Donaghmede to play Trinity and will host Raheny at some point over the next couple of months also.
