Limavady United manager Paul Owens has hailed Jamie McGonigle as “one of the best finishers I've ever seen” – and revealed “a lot of work” went into securing his services in a late deadline day loan swoop from Coleraine.

McGonigle opened his goal account for the season in Saturday’s 2-1 Premiership win over Crusaders to help Limavady collect their first points of the campaign.

The 30-year-old spent a brief period on loan at League of Ireland club Sligo Rovers this term before cutting that move short and joining Owens, who he worked alongside at Coleraine.

McGonigle has previously shone in the Premiership with Coleraine and Crusaders, while he scored 24 goals in 76 Premier Division matches for Derry City before returning to the Irish League in 2024.

placeholder image — Limavady United manager Paul Owens. (Photo by Desmond Loughery/Pacemaker Press)

With a large majority of Limavady’s attacking talent experiencing the Premiership for the first time in their careers, the Roesiders were in need of a proven marksman to deliver the goods – and Owens believes he has that in McGonigle.

Although Owens had to wait until the final hours of the window to land his man, hard work from all at Limavady ultimately paid off.

"There was a lot of work that went into it,” said Owens. “It started early on in the summer and then over the last three or four weeks, it started to grow a wee bit of legs.

"Like every team, we were looking at different options and they just didn't feel right to me.

"I wanted to be patient and make sure, because we have enough players, our squad's good and just lacked that Premiership experience.

"We've got five boys up there, John's (Butcher) the oldest at 24 and not one of them have really scored Premiership goals, they're all learning on the job.

"I was very patient and luckily our club were brilliant and Coleraine were absolutely outstanding in making the deal happen for us.

"Jamie's going to score goals. For me, he's one of the best strikers in the Premiership and he's a natural finisher.

"I worked with him before. He was a young, skinny boy back then scoring goals, he's come back here a totally different animal.

"He's really turned into a man...full-time football over the last four or five years has made a big difference.

"I genuinely think he's one of the best finishers I've ever seen.”

Although only five matches into their Premiership return, Tuesday’s showdown with Bangor has already taken on significance for Limavady.

The Seasiders have yet to win a league match this term, but did draw away to Glentoran on Saturday to collect their second point.

Lee Feeney’s men sit just one position and point behind Limavady ahead of their trip to The Showgrounds and Owens feels the Premiership has been split into sections.

"For me, there's probably a mini-league,” he added. “Crusaders have got off to a flying start, but I think everybody would probably put them in a mini-league with the likes of us.

"That's our first head-to-head in that league, we're off to a good start.

"Tuesday, we'll be getting the next one. Every game, we're not being naive, we want to get something positive out of it...Tuesday will be no different.”