Glenavon first team coach Colin Coates has been impressed by the way Barney McKeown has responded to being handed extra responsibility after donning the captain’s armband in the early stages of Paddy McLaughlin’s tenure.

McKeown arrived at the Lurgan Blues from Newry City during the summer and has arguably been their standout performer across the season so far in what has been a mixed campaign in terms of results.

The 23-year-old has played a part in 19 of Glenavon’s 22 Premiership matches and captained the Mourneview Park outfit to a memorable 2-0 Boxing Day success over biggest rivals – and his former club – Portadown, helping McLaughlin’s men move nine points clear of bottom side Loughgall ahead of Monday’s trip to Ballymena United.

While Mark Haughey remains club captain, McKeown has been skipper in all five league matches since McLaughlin replaced Stephen McDonnell with Glenavon only losing two of those – both 1-0 against the Ports and league leaders Linfield – while they’ve also collected a win over Crusaders alongside a dramatic draw with Coleraine.

placeholder image — Glenavon manager Paddy McLaughlin with his assistants Marty McCann and Colin Coates. (Photo by Alan Weir/Pacemaker Press)

A veteran Irish League defender himself having made over 600 appearances across a decorated career with Crusaders, Glenavon, Cliftonville and Ballymena, former Northern Ireland international Coates is the perfect person for McKeown to be learning from after the 39-year-old joined McLaughlin’s backroom staff.

"Barney has been excellent since we've came in,” Coates told the club’s media channel. “I played in the league earlier this season and read everything about it and knew Barney had been doing well prior to us coming in.

"We're trying to implement how we want our centre-halves to play and giving him bits I've learned over the years, but his level of performance has been excellent.

"We thought it would be good to give him the captain's armband when we came in...he's still a young player but we wanted to give him that added responsibility.

"We have the likes of Niall Quinn, Mark Haughey, Rhys Marshall, Peter Campbell - these are all players that are leaders within the team but we know whether they are captain or not they'll give us the same levels of leadership.

"We've put that bit extra on Barney because he has earned it this season."

An improvement in performance from Peter Campbell has coincided with an upswing in fortune for Glenavon with their talisman scoring in wins over Crusaders and Portadown.

The Lurgan Blues are yet to register back-to-back league victories this season but will view their trip to Ballymena as a prime opportunity – only Loughgall (eight) have collected fewer home points this term than Jim Ervin’s side (12).

"All games in this league are tough, particularly away from home,” added Coates. “I've been in at Ballymena so know what they're about.

"They've been up and down with their results, going on winning runs and losing runs, and Boxing Day was their first draw in 30-odd games.

"It was a good result for them away to Coleraine and they've good quality players who I know a lot about that can hurt you.

"The message to the players was that Boxing Day is great and a big occasion, but three points is what was up for grabs and that'll continue to be the message."