De Courcey Albion start their pre-season training this Thursday evening in Ballinadee ahead of the 2010/2011 campaign.

Most of last seasons squad has been retained and Gaffer Martin Ryan hopes to add some new faces to the mix as well. John Hipwell is also expected to return following his year long break.

New Club Chairman Kevin O’Neill was in a buoyant mood when he spoke to this decourceyalbion.com reporter. “Yeah we are really looking forward to getting back to action. We finished off last season really well with only one defeat in the last six so we’ll be hoping to pick up from there.”

When asked about the disastrous start to last season O’Neill replied. “Well yeah, that was a total disaster, to lose your first five games really wasn’t the ideal start. Add to that the manager was missing for a couple of games too which didn’t help the cause.”

When pushed if that was to happen again O’Neill responded with. “Look, what happened last season happened, the past is the past. Martin was in the lucky position of being both Chair and Manager, he could get away with missing the odd game. I’m sure Martin will be giving it 100% attention to have the team ready for the start to the new season. I’m fairly certain he’ll be the first to arrive and last to leave every training session throughout pre season.”