Ballymena United star admits even he was surprised by Goal of the Season contender after 'why not?' approach
Ballymena United midfielder Donal Rocks admits his early ‘Goal of the Season’ contender against Glenavon took even him by surprise – but he’s now hoping it’s just the start with a target of adding more goals to his game.
Rocks had previously scored just one Premiership goal for the Sky Blues – a strike against reigning champions Linfield during a dramatic 2-2 February draw, which also marked a final involvement of last season with his campaign cut short due to injury.
Having returned to full fitness, the 25-year-old has now netted three times in his last two league outings, and showed a well-rounded skillset with two finishes at very different ends of the spectrum at Mourneview Park.
His first was an opportunist strike, making a superb run to the back post to prod home Matthew Clarke’s cross, before he unleashed an effort from more than 30 yards in the second half which caught out Glenavon debutant Jacob Carney and bounced in via the crossbar.
"I don't think I've ever scored two in a match,” said Rocks. “I'm very surprised about that...two very different goals.
"One was a tap-in, one was a nice finish from 30 yards. So, yeah, it was good.
"(For the second) Calvin (McCurry) laid it down to me. I had a look around and there wasn't many people around me, so, I thought, ‘why not?’.
"My legs were giving in a bit at that stage of the match as well. So, yeah, I hit it, and thankfully it worked out.
“Probably under-16 or something (was the last time I scored a goal like that). I only scored one goal last year for Ballymena, and the year before I don't think I scored at all, so I think it’s important for me to add that to my game.”
Rocks has been handed extra responsibility this season after manager Jim Ervin named him as vice-captain to skipper Sean O’Neill alongside Patrick McEleney, who signed a new contract last week.
While Ervin has challenged Rocks to add more goals to his game, he’s also called for him to improve on his disciplinary record – Rocks picked up eight yellow cards in the Premiership last season and has collected three senior red cards, including in Cliftonville’s European play-off final defeat to Glentoran in May 2023.
"Jim told me on Thursday night I'd be vice-captain this year, along with Patrick,” added Rocks. “Yeah, it's a bit of an honour that Jim sees me in that type of role.
"One thing he said to me about was sorting out my discipline, which probably wasn't the best a couple of years ago. I'm delighted to be vice-captain along with Patrick this year.”
Just like a number of their Irish League rivals, Ballymena have significantly strengthened this summer with the arrivals of former Linfield star Clarke, Daire O’Connor and David Toure.
Rocks is loving playing in an ever-improving Irish League and believes the level of investment across Northern Ireland’s top-flight is positive.
"Every team has signed well,” he said. “There's a lot of investment coming into the league, and I think it's good for the league.
"Every team is strengthening. There's players coming in from Scotland, England and making every team strong. It can only be a good thing.”