Glentoran boss firm fans 'should have been given the money back' as Glenavon celebrate 'identity' gains

The Lurgan Blues boys enhanced their growing reputation with another performance of hunger, passion and commitment which helped them pocket another precious point against ailing Glentoran at the BetMcLean Oval on Saturday.

In fact, only for an inspired goalkeeper display from Daniel Gyollai, McDonnell’s team would have travelled back down the M1 with all three.

The big Hungarian produced a breath-taking triple save to deny Keith Ward from a stunning free-kick then managed to keep out follow-up efforts from James Carroll and Barney McKeown.

Gyollai conjured up another superb save to deny Harry Lynch when the teenager looked a certain scorer.

“We should have won the game; we’ve left it behind,” said McDonnell. “We had all the big chances in the second half.

“We’ve now conceded merely one goal in the last four (games) against the so-called full-time teams. I’m pleased in the direction we are going.

“We are doing something which we haven’t done since I came to the football club and that is pick up points from drawn games – it was either lose or win before.

"Every point is precious in this league, we’ve averaged a point a game, so far.

“We’ve come through a mini-injury crisis while picking up points as we set about building an identity.

"We are delighted where it’s going, but we must start turning draws into wins.

“We were so disciplined and organised in our performance for the first hour or so.

“But we felt the game was becoming stretched and we had planned for the moment we could flip the formation and change our style of play. After that, I thought we dominated the ball and kept it better.

“Ultimately, we had all the chances over the last 25 minutes. We had all the basics right, work, hunger, commitment. If you don’t have that in this league, you’ll be in trouble. We’ve an excellent group of players with an excellent mentality.”

Glentoran boss Declan Devine admitted his team lacked a cutting edge to break down a resolute Glenavon defence.

“It came down to a lack of real quality for me,” he said. “I’m the first to back the players, but it was a disappointing day in many, many aspects.

“I apologise to the people who came to watch it . . . they really should have been given the money back.

"The fans were more than entitled to have a go at the end, I felt their frustration.

“There is no hiding from it, the performance wasn’t good enough. We have our goalkeeper to thank for the point we got. We didn’t have a shot at goal; we never tested their goalkeeper.

“I take the blame, I put the team on the pitch...I have no excuses. We didn’t create anything, and we were architects of our own downfall.

“The only positive for us was it was our fourth clean sheet at home in five games.

“For a club of this magnitude, we’ve got to be asking more questions of teams like Glenavon.”