Toals Bookmakers Co Antrim Shield final: Ballymena United v Crusaders (Tonight, Ballymena Showgrounds 7.45pm)
DECLAN Caddell says he won’t wait until he's retired from football to enjoy the good times at Crusaders and is still driven by the dark days at the north Belfast club.
The 30-year-old central midfielder is one of the most decorated players in the domestic game - having won back-to-back league championships and numerous other cup competitions - and is hoping to add another Co Antrim Shield winner's medal to his collection ahead of tonight's decider with Ballymena United.
“I think you have to appreciate anything that you win," says Caddell.
"Obviously I came into the Crues team in 2007 – 11 years ago now – but when you see where the club has come from during that time, you do appreciate the success we've had.
“Ten years ago we were just coming out of intermediate football and were struggling at the bottom of the table, and I remember we would go over to play the Blues and the Glens and lose by five or six every time. That was tough to take.
“So coming from being in that position to being one of the best teams in the country is massive. So every trophy that you do win, you have to appreciate it.”
During that time, Stephen Baxter has built arguably the best squad of players the club has ever had but to make it really count Caddell feels they should be winning more cups.
“This is the best squad I’ve been involved in during my time at Crusaders. The manager hasn’t made massive changes each year – players coming in or going out – he brings players in with better quality.
“Over the last five or six years he’s built up that squad but because of that we need to be challenging for more cups now and I think we’ve put ourselves into a good position to do that.
“Anybody who plays football wants to be involved in as many competitions as possible and win as many trophies as they can. We’ve put a run together that has allowed us to be still in all five competitions, including the Scottish-Irish League cup competition, the Irn-Bru Cup.”
The Crues remain one point ahead of Coleraine in the race for the title following last Saturday’s pulsating 3-3 with the Bannsiders.
Last season, Stephen Baxter’s men threw the league title away to Linfield in spectacular fashion after leading for most of the campaign.
While Crusaders’ focus will be trying to beat Ballymena United tonight on their home patch, Caddell hopes that the lessons of last season have been learned.
“Obviously over the summer all the boys had time to reflect. It’s that old saying in football: ‘You don’t lose – you learn.’
“Maybe some of us took the league for granted and that we would get over the line. Obviously that was another learning curve for us. We’ll make sure it won’t happen again if we get into the same position again.”
Crusaders, who are unbeaten in 21 games, are without centre back Colin Coates as he serves an automatic one-match suspension after his red card against Coleraine last weekend.
Crusaders travel to the Showgrounds this evening having lost the toss for home advantage.
“We’ve tossed for maybe three finals now and we’ve lost them all,” Caddell added. “Ballymena are a bit of an unknown quantity. Davy Jeffrey is a great manager and will have his players playing on top of their game for a cup final. Both teams like a battle and fight for each other and I don’t see this game being any different.”
Paths to the final
Ballymena United
Round One: Ballymena United 3 H&W Welders 0
Round Two: Ballymena United 1 Glentoran 0
Semi-final: Ballymena United 3 Ards 0
Crusaders
Round One: Crusaders 4 Donegal Celtic 0
Round Two: Cliftonville 2 Crusaders 3
Semi-final: Crusaders 1 Carrick Rangers 0
