Glenavon Irish Cup final goal hero: Gary Hamilton's incredible record speaks for itself

The Lurgan Blues confirmed on Wednesday evening that, following days of speculation, Hamilton would be departing the club after starting the current campaign with just one Premiership win from seven matches.

During his almost 12 years in charge, Glenavon won two Irish Cup crowns – including a 2-0 success over Linfield at Windsor Park in 2016 when Hall scored the decisive second after Kevin Braniff’s opener – while they also qualified for Europe on four occasions, beating Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Molde on perhaps their most famous evening.

Hamilton signed former Glentoran youth product Hall from second-tier Bangor in the summer of 2015 with only three players making more appearances during his time at the club than the 33-year-old, who is currently at Championship high-flyers Dundela.

"Gary gave me the chance to play Premiership football,” he said. “I will always speak very highly of him.

"The highlight was winning the Irish Cup and we finished third in the league, qualified for Europe in four of the years and there were a lot of good players at the club.

"I left after seven years – all good things have to come to an end.

"Gary was brilliant with me, as were all the coaching staff, and we had really good teams throughout the years.

"He was very good to me and I feel in my performances at times I repaid him.

"His track record speaks for itself in bringing players through.

"Many players came through the Glenavon youth system and either stayed in the first-team or moved onto bigger and better things in full-time football.

"There are very few clubs outside of Belfast that have won the Irish Cup twice in recent years.

"He has brought trophies there, got them European qualification and it could just be a tricky period now with the changing landscape of the league."

Alongside current full-time powers in Linfield, Glentoran and Larne, it has also been announced in recent weeks that Coleraine and Carrick Rangers are set to benefit from investment as they look to challenge for success.

Hamilton managed to secure a top-seven finish in 10 of his 11 full seasons in charge of Glenavon, but Hall feels with more money coming into the league that type of achievement is becoming much harder.

"I look at times even from last year and Carrick had their best ever season, but Glenavon still finished above them in seventh,” he added. “That can sometimes be the problem when you have success that it becomes expected of you every year.

"Maybe Glenavon are standing still at the minute in terms of financially and as a club whereas other clubs are getting that cash inflow, better players, moving to full-time and you see now that Carrick and Coleraine will be getting investment too.

"Ballyclare and Moyola have announced they are getting artificial pitches so financially that could push teams in the lower leagues on a bit too.

"Teams in the lower leagues are trying to push on and find a way of bringing in more finance so it's getting tougher.

"Gary's record over the last 12 years speaks for itself."

Another issue that Hamilton consistently faced over the years was losing his best players, either to teams across the water like Mark Sykes, Bobby Burns and Josh Daniels, or to clubs higher up the pyramid within the Irish League, such as talisman Matthew Fitzpatrick, who joined Linfield this summer.

"It's extremely difficult,” said Hall. “We don't know what these players were on wages wise but they are getting potentially bigger wages at other clubs when they were on smaller money at Glenavon.

"You're then going out to a market that is inflated with increased fees and wages to try and replace that player like-for-like - it's almost impossible.

"You can see it across the water now with basic players in the Premier League going for £100million!

"It's an inflated market at the moment and it's becoming increasingly difficult for clubs to compete with teams that have that increased financial resource."