Limavady United midfielder Ruairi Boorman insists he has no regrets leaving Coleraine at Premiership Development level to rack up senior appearances with the Roesiders.

The 20-year-old was part of the Bannsiders’ youth system but made the decision to move to neighbours Limavady United at the beginning of the 2020/21 campaign.

The move has been a fruitful one for the Coleraine native as he has clocked up plenty of senior minutes so far at the Limavady Showgrounds.

Reflecting on his career to date, the apprentice electrician acknowledged that he has been pleased with his development at Limavady.

“I started off playing football at Bertie Peacocks from the age of six and was always competing against those who were two or three years older,” he said.

“After dropping down to my own age group for a while, I made the move to Coleraine at U14 level and stayed there until I was at the Reserves.

“There are plenty of great players in my position already at Coleraine such as Aaron Jarvis and Stephen Lowry, and our U20’s manager Ollie Mullan always said that we have to be playing at a level better than who is already at the club.

“I was fortunate to play for Coleraine in the North-West Senior Cup and was in the squad for a game against Linfield at the end of the 2019/20 season under Rodney McAree.

“However, I realised I needed to get games under my belt and I felt I needed to move.

“I was approached by Lee Guy and Andy Law at Limavady United and I decided to go there and it couldn’t have went any better.”

Ruairi would be joined in the deal by his twin brother Tiarnan, who operates as a defender.

But how do the two get on both on and off the pitch?

“It is a love-hate relationship,” Ruairi conceded.

“He is the hardest person on me and I’m probably the hardest person on him, but I wouldn’t have it any other way as it makes us determined to do better.

“That’s part and parcel of football and it’s forgotten about as soon as the final whistle blows.

“I’ve been filling in at left-back recently and he’s been the left-hand side central defender, so there’s been plenty of communication.

“Tiarnan and I are both lucky to be learning from and looking up to the likes of Hugh Carlin, Benny McFadden and Paul Wells as they have plenty of experience.”

Limavady, who are now managed by Andy Law, have been making steady progress under the new management as they sit fourth in the Lough41 Premier Intermediate table.

The Roesiders also claimed a famous scalp against Dungannon Swifts en route to the quarter-final of the BetMcLean League Cup, as well as pushing Portadown hard in the Irish Cup.

Boorman confessed playing against the top teams in the country are an added learning curve for he and his team-mates.

“When I arrived at Limavady, we were probably struggling a bit but to be fair to Andy and the players, we have worked hard to turn things around,” he continued.

“We are still a very young team but we will keep plugging away and see where it takes us.

“We had a good win against Tobermore United at the weekend but we just want to win as many games as we can.

“This season we have faced Coleraine, Portadown, Larne, Dungannon Swifts and Warrenpoint Town in a variety of cup competitions and it has been great to challenge ourselves against those sides.

“The win against Dungannon Swifts was a hell of a result and we had more than enough chances to go through against Portadown in the Irish Cup but we gave it a good go.

“We play Brantwood in Round 4 of the Intermediate Cup on Saturday and we will go there and give it all we can.”