Niall Currie hails Portadown signing as 'one of the best in the country in what he does' after starring in Irish Cup victory

Currie moved quickly at the start of the window to sign Dobbin, Zach Barr, who scored Portadown’s equaliser against Carrick Rangers on Saturday, Jack Henderson, TJ Murray and Jamie Browne.

Henderson and Dobbin were both successful from the spot as the Shamrock Park outfit ran out 5-4 victors in the penalty shoot-out to secure further cup progression, adding to Tuesday’s BetMcLean Cup semi-final against rivals Glenavon and the following week they’ll take on Dungannon Swifts in the Mid-Ulster Cup final.

That success is being juggled alongside their promotion push with Portadown currently sitting fourth in the Championship table behind Dundela, Institute and Bangor with 17 league games still to play, but Currie now feels his squad has a fresh look to it and is delighted with the quality additions.

"The one thing about them is that they're good footballers,” he told the club’s media channel. “These are targets we've been searching for or certainly interested in for a couple of months now.

"We're well-versed in what we were targeting and we got all of our first choice targets. Jack comes in and he's a great organiser - he can do whatever he wants with a football.

"TJ gives you legs and physicality and Dobbin is for me one of the best 10's in the country in what he does with third-man runs - he's a wonderful player. I thought Jamie Browne was outstanding on the right-hand side and big Zach Barr scored.

"There are a few guys in there still sore and we're still missing players, but we were able to give Gary (Thompson) only half an hour which will refresh him, Maysey (Ryan Mayse) has been playing with a knee injury, Kenny Kane has his hip flexor, so we're over the moon that we have a freshness about us now and training has been outstanding. The new players coming in have lifted everybody."

Currie also feels the overall standard of the Championship has increased with the introduction of more full-time clubs in the top-flight.

"I think the level of player is up,” he added. “You have quite a few expensive purchases in the Championship this season.

"You look at a couple of players and think 'wow, how did that happen?'. Even when you look at Institute signing Mikhail Kennedy from the Crues – in my days of winning the Championship in the past we couldn't have got players of that quality.

"There's a surplus of quality at the full-time clubs now so you've always got a wee sniff at any guys who aren't playing. For me it's a cut-throat league and if you're not right on any particular day then anybody can beat anybody.”