Declan Devine hails Glentoran's 'nine times out of ten' talisman after opening Irish League win
Glentoran manager Declan Devine highlighted prolific Pat Hoban as a prime example “every young player should look at” after putting a stop-start pre-season behind him to open his goal account in Saturday’s 2-0 Premiership victory over newcomers Limavady United.
Hoban enjoyed a dream debut Irish League campaign last term, netting 26 times in 32 matches on his way to topping the individual goal charts and collecting NIFL’s ‘Player of the Year’ award.
It took 35-year-old Hoban just 63 minutes to register his first of the new season as the former Derry City ace doubled Glentoran’s advantage after substitute Jordan Stewart had netted an opener two minutes prior.
Hoban could once again hold the key to Glentoran’s bid for Gibson Cup glory and Devine hailed his ruthless talisman.
“Pat has been stop-start during pre-season,” said Devine. "He picked up a couple of niggles towards the end of last season because, let's be honest, Pat played nearly a season-and-a-half last year.
"He came halfway through Derry City's season and then played a full season for us.
"The one thing I will say about him is, even though he hasn't trained a lot in pre-season, his conditioning, his professionalism, his strength, is something that every young player should look at.
"Even when he's not training as often as he would like, his levels of professionalism are second to none.
"He probably doesn't have as many touches in the game as he would like, but when you present him with a chance, nine times out of ten, he's going to take it.”
Stewart, who enjoyed a solid first season back at The Oval after returning from Crusaders ahead of last term, made an immediate impact at the weekend, netting barely a minute after his introduction.
Devine has a wealth of quality midfield options at his disposal with Joe Thomson and Jack Malone impressing on Saturday while Aaron McEneff also started in their Limavady triumph.
The Glens chief is clear it’ll take a collective effort to fight for major honours this term – and Devine is now preparing to take his side to Windsor Park for a first ‘Big Two’ showdown against Linfield.
"I'm delighted for Jordan coming on off the bench to get the opening goal – I think it might have been his first touch,” he added. "We would have loved to have had Jordan start, but it's a 38-game season and we have to make sure all our players are fit, try and look after them the best we can.
"We have a good squad of players here, players will be disappointed when they don’t start, players will be disappointed when they're not in the 18.
"It's very much a team – 11 players aren’t going to win us anything this year.
"We're still very much a work in progress.
"I’m delighted with what we have at our disposal, but at the same time, we chalk this one off now and get ready for a cracker next week.
"All in all, I’m delighted with the result, delighted with the application of the players, but it is still the first game of the season.”