Glenavon assistant manager Andrew Doyle has been hailed as “Mr Reliable” after rolling back the years to score for the Lurgan Blues in Saturday’s 6-1 pre-season win over Crumlin United – and could yet play his part in their promotion bid if required.

Doyle spent seven years as a Glenavon player between 2016-2023 with Gary Hamilton describing him as “one of the best I've had in my time at the club” before being forced to step away from Premiership level due to injury.

He famously kept Erling Haaland quiet during Glenavon's Europa League qualifying win over Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Molde at Mourneview Park in 2018.

After leaving Glenavon, Doyle continued playing for Ballymena & Provincial League outfit Rathcoole, combining playing duties alongside his role as coach, and featured up until joining Michael O’Connor’s backroom team in October.

placeholder image — Andrew Doyle in Premiership action for Glenavon in 2023. (Photo by INPHO/Presseye/Stephen Hamilton)

The 35-year-old was back on the pitch this weekend, starting at Tom McPeake Park against Amateur League club Crumlin, and marked the occasion by netting Glenavon’s fourth goal.

Doyle remains registered as a Glenavon player, and while his main focus will stay on helping O’Connor to plot the club’s immediate path back to the Premiership, the centre-back could be called upon at stages throughout the upcoming campaign.

"Doyler was great...he did give away a free-kick for the goal so we're not letting him away scot-free!" laughed fellow assistant manager Mark Ferguson on the club’s media channel. “Doyler is Doyler, he's going to give us 100% no matter what, and that's why we have had him in there.

"He's not going to play lots of minutes for us this year and he knows that, but he's going to be there as 'Mr Reliable' for us if we need him.

"It's important for him to get minutes in the legs while we're here.”

Having signed a new contract to remain at Glenavon despite suffering relegation, former Linfield star Niall Quinn captained the team on Saturday and Ferguson was delighted with his impact.

"Quinny is remarkable,” he added. “He has been away on holiday for 10 days and looked one of the sharpest players on the pitch.

"I asked him if he had been doing anything and he said he hadn't - I'm not so sure, I think he's telling me lies!

"He looked as sharp as he has been even at the end of last season. He looked really good, confident on the ball, and that's Quinny as a whole."

With former Manchester United youngster Jacob Carney departing at the end of last season, O’Connor has moved to sign goalkeeper Lorcan Donnelly on loan from Glentoran.

The 20-year-old featured for the first time on Saturday and Ferguson insists the aim is to create competition for places across the board.

"It's competition, that's what we're looking, competition for Mark (Byrne) and Seany (Hamill),” he said. “We don't want anybody in the squad thinking their name is going to be on the team sheet on Saturday, we want people anticipating and hoping they have done enough the week before to make sure they're playing.

"If we don't have another goalkeeper like Lorcan coming in, Mark could become complacent and we don't want that. We want people fighting for positions and a competitive squad.”