LINFIELD V GLENAVON, A LOOK AHEAD

On Saturday 20th September 2025 Glenavon travels to South Belfast to face Linfield in its eighth Sports Direct Premiership fixture.

David Healy’s side suffered its first domestic defeat of the season on Tuesday night:  a 1-0 reverse against Ballymena United in a re-arranged league fixture. “They will be smarting a bit after that result and will be doubly determined to get back to winning ways,” said Paddy McLaughlin. “Despite what happened at the Showgrounds, they will be looking to repeat last season’s title success. They are a big club and have some top players. We’ll have to be at our very best if we are to take anything from the fixture.”

Josh Kee, Barney McKeown and Harry Murphy, who missed last weekend’s trip to East Antrim due to eligibility issues and suspensions will be back in contention for starting berths. “The fact that the three lads are available again is a big boost,” said the Glenavon boss. “Now we have an option of perhaps changing the formation and going back to a 4-3-3. Last week I thought we needed to play with three men across the back.”

Seven days ago, there were major fitness doubts about Kyle McClelland (shoulder), Michael O’Connor (knee) and Sean Carlin (groin). Yet all three either started or made substitute appearances. “We really pushed the three of them to play and they did, but they have trained very little since,” he continued. “We’ll check on them again on Saturday.”

Ben Wilson is unlikely to be fit to face the Belfast Blues. The talented teenager picked up several knocks at Inver Park and was substituted in the closing minutes. “Ben had to come off because he had been down several times and couldn’t go on,” added the Northwest native. “He might be out for a couple of weeks.” 

McLaughlin also revealed that left back Paddy Burns has had scans on potentially serious knee and hamstring injuries. “We were quite worried about Paddy,” he said. “It looked as if he might be facing a long spell on the sideline, but we have just got the news that he is fine. He won’t make it against Linfield, but he will be able to resume training again soon.”

Niall Quinn remains an absentee. “Niall is making good progress,” added Paddy. “He should be back in the next couple of weeks. He made a big contribution last season, so we want him to be fit and available as soon as possible.”

There is also no prospect of Peter Campbell making an immediate return. “Peter has been very unfortunate,” said the Glenavon manager. “He has had two bad injuries back-to-back. But he is determined to get back into the team. He has been working very hard. Whether he is on the pitch or off it he gives his best. Hopefully, there will be some positive news in the next couple of weeks.”

In addition to the uncertainty about who will and who won’t be available for the trip to the National Stadium, Paddy is grappling with the team’s ongoing failure to score goals. “There is no doubt that we have struggled to convert scoring opportunities,” he conceded. “It is frustrating because the players’ work rate and intensity have been everything we could ask. But I won’t point the finger specifically at the strikers. We defend as a team, and we attack as a team. We have a young group of players. It has been a steep learning curve for some of them. But I have no doubt that if we had scored the goals our build up play deserves, we would have some points on the board.”

McLaughlin was encouraged by the team’s gutsy display against Larne. “It was a very tough game, and we were forced to make a lot of changes,” he said. “But every player contributed, and, on another day, we might have seen the match out and picked up a point. We defended well and maintained our shape for the full 90 minutes. We also created a couple of decent chances from set-piece situations. The players worked their socks off. Larne had a lot of possession, but there were periods in the match when they didn’t threaten. We probably deserved something because we competed as well as we did.”

Francely Lomboto, who was sent-off against Coleraine in August, began his three-match suspension on Monday. He will miss the Linfield, Crusaders and Portadown fixtures.

Other Glenavon teams in action:

(Free Admission to all games)

• Monday 22nd September 2025 – Crusaders Reserves v Glenavon Reserves, Seaview, 2000 k.o.
• Friday 19^th September 2025 – Glenavon U-18s v Coleraine U-18s, Lurgan Junior High School 3G, 2000 k.o.
• Saturday 20th September 2025 – Cliftonville U-16s v Glenavon U-16s, Solitude, 1100 k.o.