Gary Haveron praise for 'superior athlete' as Larne seal Irish Cup progression

Played at the third attempt after poor January weather resulted in two postponements at The Showgrounds, Paul O’Neill put Larne ahead before Success Edogun’s superb effort from range levelled proceedings.

However, Millar had the decisive say against his former club in the 72nd minute, tucking home Tomas Cosgrove’s cross to set up a showdown with Warrenpoint Town on Saturday.

Millar missed 18 months through injury before returning in October and has quickly established himself as a key figure in Haveron’s side once again.

The 30-year-old, who was named NIFWA Premiership Player of the Year for his role in Larne’s maiden Gibson Cup triumph in 2022/23, scored 18 league goals across his first two seasons at Inver Park.

Haveron knows what his talisman is capable of and believes his athletic prowess plays a pivotal role in taking up dangerous positions.

“He has been threatening and getting on the end of things,” Haveron told the club’s media channel. “I’m saying to him to have confidence...he’s such a good finisher.

"If you think of his goal return over the last three or four seasons since he has been with us, his goal return and assists are excellent.

"He gets himself into those positions so often and that’s fitness, it’s being a superior athlete that he can run beyond people, and he has that desire to go one way and no lack of enthusiasm to go the other either.

"He puts in such a shift for the team. He got on the end of that with a great finish, it’s as good a finish as you’re going to find, he timed it brilliantly on his right foot...he finished it beautifully inside the post.

"We’ve scored two good goals, I thought Paul O’Neil for the last 25 or 30 minutes was outstanding. His work rate to come back and help the boys defensively, to hold the ball up, to get up and support.”

While the match went ahead, conditions were far from ideal in Ballymena – and Haveron expected the pitch to play a role.

"I didn’t expect anything else,” he added. “Once the game gets the go-ahead, you know the pitch is going to play a part in the game and it did.

"It was very difficult to play, so great credit to the boys. The wind was really strong and I think we completely dominated the first half.

"Like I’ve been saying for the last couple of weeks, we just didn’t reflect that on the scoreboard. We should have had a couple more goals to give ourselves that cushion.

"They came out, threw a lot of men forward, put a lot of ball in the box and you can do that when you’re playing cup football, you can go at it.

"Even when we conceded the goal, to show the resilience that we did, to show the composure to regroup and settle ourselves, it’s an unbelievable ball from Tomas and unbelievable finish from Leroy coming in off the left.

"We were a threat afterwards in the game and we managed it really well. We’re in the hat and that’s all that matters, there’s no goal difference in cup football.”