Eamon Scannell opens up on Linfield exit and promotion ambition

Eamon Scannell has admitted that his exit from Linfield last summer was a necessary bitter pill to swallow to allow him to progress his career.

He debuted for the Blues as a 17-year-old but was never able to cement a regular starting spot at Windsor Park, with Niall Quinn and Matthew Clarke also in the Blues ranks.

After loan spells at Carrick, Warrenpoint and Portadown, he decided he needed to take the decision to join Ards on a permanent basis last year.

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“Linfield are the biggest club in the country and any player here would love to play for them – you would be lying if you said you wouldn’t,” Scannell explained to Match on Tuesday.

“I loved my loan spells away from the club, especially at Warrenpoint – where I played 60 or 70 games, playing in an Irish Cup semi-final and being part of a great dressing room.

“Most of our squad here at Ards have come from the top clubs, whether it be the Blues, Glentoran or Crusaders.

“I spoke to David Healy and he knew that not only did I need to be playing regularly, but that I needed to settle at a club and have the security of a contract beyond six months or one season.

“Structure was the main thing for me and Ards have given me that.”

Ards were early pacesetters in the Championship but a run of just three victories in 20 matches saw their campaign derailed, with Matthew Tipton replacing John Bailie in the dugout last month.

Saturday saw a thumping 5-0 win over Ballyclare, with Scannell adding: “It is not mathematically impossible for us to win the league, but we can realistically still make the playoffs.

“We do not want to look forward too much and we are not looking beyond our next game, because we can only