ARMAGH CITY V GLENAVON, A LOOK AHEAD

 On Saturday 22nd August 2026 Glenavon faces Armagh City at Holm Park in its fourth BOYLE Sports Championship fixture.

The Orchard County club has made a sustained recovery since the sudden departure of manager Shea Campbell and several key firstteam players last November. Its current boss is former Finn Harps supremo Dave Rogers. He is assisted by Tiarnan Mulvenna. City has strengthened its squad with the addition of defender Ryan McDonnell and striker Tyler Doherty.

Armagh drew its opening fixture 1–1 with Queen’s University. It subsequently lost 2–0 to Warrenpoint Town and 1–0 to Harland & Wolff Welders.

 Glenavon manager Michael O’Connor is expecting a demanding afternoon. “Yeah, it’s a tough game,” he said. “I think any game in this league is difficult. It will be another physical battle.” He pointed out that Armagh had been competitive in all three of its fixtures. “They were 1–0 up against Queens and had a penalty to go 2–0 up. They missed it and then obviously they drew that game. They’ve got some decent forward players in their team and they defend well.”

O’Connor believes that Glenavon must build on the improved attacking displays against Newry and Strabane. “We took our chances in those two matches, which was a big improvement on the Ards game,” he explained. “The lads are full of confidence but there is a fine line between being confident and being overconfident. I’ve praised the team for the last two displays, but we’ve done nothing yet. We need to keep our feet on the ground and make sure we get three more points at Armagh.”

 The manager was pleased with many aspects of the 4-1 victory last weekend. “Again, we started really well,” he continued. “We put them under pressure and convertedour dominance into goals. But then we had that difficult spell before half time. We conceded and allowed ourselves to be pushed back. However, we recovered in the second half. We scored two more goals and looked really solid at the back.”

Ryan Waide celebrates after scoring a fine third goal in the win against Strabane Athletic

 Michael revealed that during the half time break against Strabane he made some changes. “We talked about getting an extra five or ten yards further up the pitch and pressing them higher,” he revealed. “The lads did what they were asked to do, and it made a difference. We put that bad spell towards the end of the first half behind us and never really looked like conceding again.”

The Belfast man was happy with the intensity of Glenavon’s play. “I want the team to play frontfoot football, a good attacking style which creates chances and produces goals,” he continued. “I think we have shown that in the last two games. I have encouraged the players to keep doing what they have been doing, get forward and put opponents under pressure.”

He was particularly pleased with the forwards’ contribution to the win against Strabane. “The four lads played with freedom and confidence,” he said. “Peter [Campbell] had two or three assists going into the match and he scored our second goal. Rooster [Ryan Waide] is playing better than he has done in a long time and he scored one and set another up. Big Ethan [Devine] was probably chasing it too much in the first two games, so it was good for him to get onto the scoresheet. He took his penalty really well. And Jude Johnson was involved in three of the four goals. He has been a breath of fresh air.”

Peter Campbell scores Glenavon’s second goal in the 4-1 victory against Strabane Athletic

O’Connor also singled out teenage midfielder Alex Watson for special praise. “Alex did really well in pre-season,” he continued. “We put him straight in against Ards and he was excelent, but we changed our shape at Newry which meant that we couldn’t include him. He came back in against Strabane and was very good. I thought both him and Quinny [Niall Quinn] were superb.”

Michael hopes that Glenavon’s defence can secure its first clean sheet of the campaign at Holm Park. “We’ve been chasing it for a while now,” he added. “We didn’t even do it in preseason. But it will come. I thought the back four was really good last Saturday. Murph [Harry Murphy] and Paddy [Burns] were solid and Jordan [McMullan] and Oran [O’Kane] supported them well.”

 Nonetheless, although the club’s next two opponents are both struggling at the foot of the Championship table, the former Northern Ireland international is taking nothing for granted. “We’ve set ourselves targets to hit,” he explained. “We aimed for seven points from the first three fixtures and got six. We want to win the next two matches but to do that we need to keep our focus and produce two good performances. It is still early days. We won’t get a true picture of how we are doing until we have played the first ten, eleven or twelve games.”

O’Connor expects to have Luke McGerrigan back in the squad for Saturday. “Luke was ill last weekend,” he explained. “But he trained all week. He should be available again.” However, Niall Quinn is unlikely to feature. “Quinny felt his hip against Strabane and had the good sense to let us know immediately,” he added. “I think we got him off in time. He will be touch and go for the Armagh game but should be back very soon.” Unfortunately, Oran O’Kane has picked up a knock and may not play at Holm Park.

 John Mountney is making excellent progress and might be able to return to training early next week. Stephen Mallon has been able to do some running so he also seems to be on the mend. “Scott Hughes, our physiotherapist, is working hard to get everyone back as quickly as possible,” added Michael.

 Glenavon travels to Holm Park in good spirits, hoping to build on the recent 4-1 wins against Newry City and Strabane Athletic. The match kicks off at 3 pm. If you are free, please do your best to attend and get behind the players.