Gary Haveron hails 'absolutely outstanding' Larne star for role in Ballymena United win where key duo forced off

McEneff arrived at Inver Park from Derry City last summer and has made 23 league appearances this term alongside playing his part in all six of their Conference League fixtures.

The 24-year-old previously spent time in the Gunners’ youth academy, playing alongside the likes of William Saliba, Emile Smith-Rowe and Reiss Nelson, before returning home to the Brandywell and scored in the FAI Cup final as Derry City sealed silverware success in 2022.

With the departure of Joe Thomson to Glentoran in January, it’s likely that McEneff will now have an even greater role to play at Larne and stepped up at the Showgrounds as Haveron’s side recorded consecutive league wins for the first time since January to maintain pressure on Glentoran in the race to secure automatic European football.

Jordan McMullan, who was recalled by Ballymena from a loan spell at H&W Welders in January, put the Sky Blues ahead before Tiarnan O’Connor and Paul O’Neill completed Larne’s comeback.

"I thought Jordan was outstanding, absolutely outstanding,” Haveron told the club’s media channel. “It was reward for the effort he put in on Saturday too down at Loughgall.

"He has built on that performance and that's Jordan at his best when he runs beyond people, gets into channels and causes all sorts of problems.

"I thought he was excellent. His energy levels were unbelievable, as were Seany Graham's.

"I thought Seany gave us a really big shift in there too and Cricky (Gallagher) was great in the middle of the park. Conditions were really difficult and I've nothing but praise for the boys."

O’Connor, who has scored four Premiership goals since his January arrival, was forced off at half-time through injury while O’Neill was replaced only seven minutes after netting for a third time in his last four outings.

Larne have now played 11 league matches since the start of February with most weeks containing two fixtures and Haveron knows that hectic schedule will bring challenges.

"When you're playing two games a week it's going to happen,” he added. “We've been playing two games a week for months now and it's going to happen, boys are going to break down - they aren't machines.

"Eventually it's going to takes its toll but we'll not complain about it.

"We'll roll our sleeves up and whoever is fit and available come Saturday...there's not one person in our dressing who is shirking it or saying 'I'm not available'. They all want to play and we're patching them up the best we can.

"Paul's got another (goal) - he has swivelled on it and buried it when we needed him to. Tiarnan was carrying a knock and he battled on.

"He wanted to get to the half and I was delighted to see him getting the touch on the end of it. That was a brilliant goal, really well worked down that right-hand side, it was a great ball in and Tiarnan has finished it off really well."