GLENAVON V LARNE, A LOOK AHEAD

On Tuesday 17th September 2024 Glenavon faces Larneat Mourneview Park.

Isaac Baird, Calum Birney, Jamie Doran, Mark Haughey, Harry Lynch, Rhys Marshall and Niall Quinn missed the 1-0 victory against Crusaders at Seaview due to injury. Chris Atherton was unavailable. None is expected to return. In addition, Keith Ward (calf) and James Doona(bruised ankle and foot) have joined the list of walking wounded. It is the worst injury crisis which the club has faced for many years.

“It is not a good situation,” admitted Stephen McDonnell. “We are down to the bare bones. But we are not making excuses. The team was severely depleted for the match against Crusaders but still managed to win. There is a lot of quality in our squad. We will do our best to give Larne as tough a match as possible.”

McDonnell revealed that Saturday’s impressive and highly disciplined display was in large part down to meticulous preparation on the training ground. “The way we set the team up was very deliberate,” he said. “With so many bodies out, we had to make it as difficult as possible for the opposition. The focus in training was improving our play when out of possession. We wanted to be solid and well organised. It is not, ideally, the approach we want to adopt but sometimes needs must. The players, to be fair, were excellent. They carried out the game plan perfectly. They should take a lot of confidence from the performance and result.”

Whilst reluctant to single people out, McDonnell was particularly pleased with the back-four. “They were all outstanding,” he continued. “James [Carroll] and Barney [McKeown] have formed a good partnership in the middle and David [Toure} and Len [O’Sullivan] had their best matches so far. Hopefully, our supporters can see why, for example, we signed the two centre-backs. They give us the strength and solidity which allows us to go to difficult places like Seaview and the Coleraine Showgrounds and compete. The two full backs are still very young but are showing their potential.”

McDonnell was also delighted with Michael O’Connor’s contribution. “Michael, obviously, scored the winner with a quality finish and, at times, was unplayable,” he added. “He still has things he can improve on. But, like a number of the other lads we have brought in, for one reason or another, he has played very little football in the last twelve months.”

The Dundalk man is under no illusions about the challenge Larne presents. “Last season they scored fourteen goals against us in three league games. They are in the middle of a successful European campaign and have just beaten Linfield at Windsor Park,” he said. “They could rest all eleven players from Saturday and still field an excellent side. They will be big favourites, but that does not mean that we can’t be competitive. We will do everything we can to get a result.”