Jarlath O’Rourke feels it’s no coincidence that Crusaders’ current positive run has began after the return of key players following a “shocking” injury crisis at Seaview.

Full-back O’Rourke scored in the Crues’ 3-1 weekend Premiership win over Ballymena United, which further strengthened their top-six push and means Declan Caddell’s side have now won five of their last six matches across all competitions.

In what has been a transitional season for the North Belfast outfit with club legend Caddell taking over from long-serving boss Stephen Baxter, Crusaders entered 2025 missing a number of senior stars with as many as 10 sitting out of a 5-1 defeat to high-flying Dungannon Swifts last month.

Many of those have since returned, sparking an upturn in results for Caddell’s men, who currently sit fourth in the Premiership table as they chase European football for next term.

placeholder image — Crusaders star Jarlath O’Rourke celebrates scoring against Ballymena United. (Photo by Inpho/Stephen Hamilton)

With this weekend’s trip to Glenavon followed by hosting North Belfast rivals Cliftonville in the Irish Cup quarter-finals, there’s plenty to play for and O’Rourke feels they are now in a positive place.

"You can be harsh on ourselves for the way we've played over the past two-and-a-half months, but if you look through our injury list, it has been shocking,” he said on BBC Sportsound. “We've had 10 or 11 first team players out, we've went away to teams starting 17 or 18-year-olds up front, but now we are getting a few boys back for the key part of the season so we're looking pretty good going into it."

Saturday’s contest pits two of the league’s most in-form teams against each other – across the last five Premiership matches played by each top-flight side, none have collected more points than Glenavon (13) while Crusaders sit one behind on 12.

Paddy McLaughlin’s arrival has prompted a resurgence at Mourneview Park, extending their unbeaten run to six by salvaging a late midweek draw against Larne, and having already lost twice to the Lurgan Blues this season, O’Rourke admits Crusaders will be keen to come out on the right side this time around.

"We know all about Glenavon now - we've played them twice and lost to them twice too,” he added. “Paddy is an excellent manager and he has got a response from the players.

"They are looking like a quality team now...they always had quality players in their side.

"We are going away to Mourneview and there's probably no tougher place to go in the league at the moment with the way they are playing.

"We will look forward to it. We're on the back of a good run too - it's always a good sign when you don't play well and you pick up points."

Three of O’Rourke’s six league goals over the past two seasons have been scored against Ballymena, who sit tenth heading into Saturday’s clash with Portadown, but are still only six points adrift of the top-half.

"I'm not too sure!" laughed O’Rourke when asked why his record is so good against Ballymena. “I think I've scored five or six against them and haven't scored that many overall.

"It's one of those teams and I wonder if I signed for Ballymena if it would mean I'd go on to score 15 or 20 for them?!"