Jim Ervin lauds experience and quality of veteran goalkeeper as Sky Blues prepare for Portadown visit

The Sky Blues chief made the comments after O’Neill rolled back the years to produce a heroic late save in Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Glentoran as Jonny Russell’s header was somehow clawed away by the veteran custodian.

O’Neill has been a mainstay in the Irish League for almost two decades at Ballymena United, Dungannon Swifts and Crusaders – with Ervin stating that his experience is worth its weight in gold as the shot stopper recently signed a one-year extension to his contract.

Ervin believes O’Neill’s presence – added with several other seasoned-campaigners – has helped combine a healthy blend of youth and experience in Ballymena’s changing room.

"To be fair, Oggers (Sean O'Neill) had very little to do for the majority of the game on Tuesday night,” he said.

"But the save he comes up with at the end is absolutely outstanding and he's been excellent and really good for us.

"I'm pleased for him and people might say it's his job to keep them out but it's such a late stage of the game when concentration levels might lead to tired bodies and minds...so to come up with that save and then contain that late pressure was brilliant and it would have been an injustice if we didn't get at least a point.

"That's why we wanted to keep him before we gave him the new deal before Christmas.

"For where we are looking to go, we need a really good mix of youth and experience and you see that right through our squad.

"You've Danny Lafferty, Stevie O'Donnell, Aaron Jarvis and Patrick McEleney but around the sides of that you have Alex Gawne who is still only 22 or 23, Conor Barr is a 19-year-old kid, Daithi McCallion is another one at 19 or 20 years of age, and then you have James Hood and Jordan McMullan coming on the pitch who came through the Academy.

"Calvin McCurry is 23, Kian Corbally is 23, Success is still young...so when you look around the mix that we have, it's a really good group.”

Portadown have enjoyed a successful return to the top flight as Niall Currie’s men find themselves fifth in the standings as the league split draws near.

The Braidmen suffered a 3-0 defeat when Portadown last visited The Showgrounds back in November, so Ervin knows the task in hand for his players who are also still in with a shout of finishing in the top half.

He stated: "I think every game is important...and Portadown are going to present us their own challenges on Saturday.

"They beat us 3-0 and deservedly so the last time we played them.

"I'm on record saying this and I'll say it again, it's the only game I feel we've lost this season that we were actually completely outplayed, dominated and didn't deserve to get anything from the game.

"But a lot has happened since then. They've gone on a magnificent run and they deserve to be where they are.

"We've put really good performances in and it's about grinding results out and getting as many points as we possibly can.”