Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin admits he “loves everything about” Saturday’s goal hero Donal Rocks after the midfielder’s brace secured an opening day 2-0 Premiership win over Glenavon at Mourneview Park.

The 25-year-old put his side ahead on the stroke of half-time before a thunderbolt from distance ensured the Sky Blues got off to a winning start in the Irish League for the first time in five years.

Here’s what Ervin had to say in his post-match interview:

GREAT WAY TO START THE SEASON?

placeholder image — Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin. (Photo by Desmond Loughery/Pacemaker Press)

"Definitely. I think it’s five years since we won our opening game so it’s something to build on now.

"Three points and a clean sheet, which pleases me the most...as part of the defenders union I pride myself on clean sheets and it’s something we haven’t managed to do an awful lot of.

"It’s good to get that on the opening day of the season.”

WHAT ABOUT DONAL ROCKS?

"He’s jumping about in there celebrating!

“I’m delighted for him because Rocksy has been announced as vice-captain alongside Patrick (McEleney) and I love everything about him – his energy, tenacity in midfield and we’ve said for him to get to the next level can he add goals to his game?

"He certainly did that today. The second one I definitely wasn’t expecting! Maybe the first at the back post you can anticipate from him, but the second goal was a wonderful strike.

"On a blustery day you just never know where it can go and we’re really pleased.”

SECOND GOAL CAME AT GOOD TIME?

"They were on top in the second half, there’s no complaints there.

"I feel first half we should have been in 2-0 up...we created so many chances. They were trying to hit us on the counter but we created so many chances where the final ball or movement wasn’t quite there.

"We were disappointed to only be going in at 1-0. We knew we were going to get a reaction from them, I know what Paddy’s (McLaughlin) teams are about.

"They changed their shape and put us under a lot of pressure, but the boys stood up to it, dug deep, helped each other and ran...they did everything we’ve asked them to do in pre-season and we got the rewards for it.”

THOUGHTS ON DONAL’S SECOND GOAL?

"Rocksy was saying his legs were like jelly so he hit it because he didn’t want to run!

“He just smashed us and thankfully it went in.

"When he hit the shot I was ready to scream at him, but then I started celebrating! Two minutes before it he made a couple of lung-busting runs and was struggling to get back in.

"We needed energy in midfield so we were anticipating possibly taking him off and then he scores a wonder goal like that and I couldn’t!

“We had to let it sit for five or 10 minutes before we took him off...he was out on his feet and I’m not surprised with the amount of ground he covered.”

IMPRESSIVE DEBUT FROM ALI GOULD?

"He probably started off a little bit shaky in the first five minutes, finding the tempo of the game.

"We’ve had our new players in early because we wanted to try and gel them as much as possible through pre-season and you could see that today with him being very comfortable on the ball.

"His recovery runs in behind too, I thought he was superb. He maybe got done a couple of times but his recovery back into position was great and he dealt with everything.”