'Buzz at Limavady is fantastic' says Lowry

Limavady United midfielder Philip Lowry says the “buzz at the club is fantastic” as the Irish Premiership new boys continue to adjust to life in the top flight and prepare to welcome Linfield to their Showgrounds home on Saturday.

The 37-year-old helped the Roesiders win promotion as Championship winners last term, thereby bridging an 18-year gap since they were last part of the top division.

Paul Owens’ side beat Linfield in the Irish Cup last season but the former Blues and Crusaders midfielder Lowry knows they face a big challenge against David Healy’s side.

Limavady are still looking for their first points since their long-awaited return to the top division after losing away to Glentoran in their first fixture of the campaign and then suffering a further loss at home to Carrick Rangers.

Linfield bounced back from their opening day defeat by Ballymena United with wins over Glentoran and Cliftonville at Windsor Park.

“It’s always a big day when you play against Linfield and obviously our first year back in the Premiership. It’s probably one of the first fixtures you look out for, and to have it so early in the season, we’re really looking forward to it,” Lowry told BBC Sport NI’s Odhran Crumley.

“The first two games have probably been a real learning curve for us.

“In terms of performance they have been OK. We’ve probably just been punished for a couple of sloppy mistakes here and there and we maybe haven’t been as clinical at the top end of the pitch.

“Hopefully we can turn the decent performances into points. We know it will be extremely difficult on Saturday but if we can get one point or three on the board that would be great for us.”

‘A core of home based and young players’

Lowry believes the less experienced players among their group are beginning to become acclimatised to playing at larger grounds in front of bigger crowds.

Last weekend’s scheduled game against Larne was postponed because of the Invermen’s European commitments, giving the Limavady squad a fortnight to prepare for the visit of the Blues.

“Our younger players who hadn’t sampled it before are probably more familiar with the sizes of the crowds we’ll be getting and the standard of the opposition,” he continued.

“We’ve had a good two weeks’ training and we’re fully focused on Saturday.

“We’re a club that has a large catchment area but trying to get all the Limavady players of sufficient quality in the one team at the one time has always proven really difficult. But we’ve got a good core now of home based players and really good exciting young players.

“Everything is boding well and I think we’re getting more and more supporters coming out to watch us now we’re back in the Premiership.”