Glentoran need to respond from Irish Cup disappointment to close gap on leaders Larne, says Jarlath O'Rourke
Jarlath O'Rourke says Glentoran can ill-afford to dwell on their Irish Cup exit with the focus now on Tuesday night's visit to Bangor in the Sports Direct Premiership.
The Glens suffered penalty shoot-out agony at the hands of Larne to exit the Cup at the quarter-final stage on Friday night.
And while it was a tough one to take for Declan Devine's men, O'Rourke insists there is still plenty to play for this season.
Glentoran currently find themselves second in the Premiership table and know a win will close Larne’s lead at the summit to just two points.
"It's always difficult when you go out on penalties, it's not a nice way to lose a game but it has happened and we just have to get on with it now," said O'Rourke.
"Obviously we want to get as far as possible in every competition we play this season, but we can't let this result define the remainder of the campaign.
"We have some big games coming up over the next few weeks and our focus has to be on that. We cannot dwell on what happened on Friday night as it will take our attention away from what we need to focus on.
"Tuesday night against Bangor now becomes our most important game of the season so far as we have to do everything we can to bounce back.
"Thankfully we haven't suffered too many disappointments over the last few months, but when we have we have responded in the next game, and we have to make sure that is the case again come Tuesday night."
O'Rourke made a January switch to The Oval along with former Crusaders team-mate Ross Clarke, and both players have settled in well in east Belfast.
He remarked: "I think we have both settled in well, and it probably helped that we came here together and that we know a few of the lads already here.
"I think you can see in our performances that we are well settled in our new surroundings and that we are enjoying our football.
"There is a lot of competition for places in the squad so we all know that you have to perform when you're given the opportunity, and I think that has been pretty evident in our performances of late."
Bangor were not in action last weekend after previously being knocked out of the Irish Cup, with Lee Feeney’s men ninth in the league table.