January transfer business helps put Irish League bottom club looking up thanks to 'front foot' fighting stance
Michael O’Connor may be the mastermind behind each one of the 15 points picked up by Glenavon since a Premiership dugout debut as boss on October 18 but his praise centred on the collective after Saturday’s latest home boost in the relegation battle.
Now looking up at a nine-point gap to Crusaders thanks to five wins under O’Connor, the former Northern Ireland international put the full focus on his players’ appetite for the fight after goals by Paul McGovern and Harry Murphy left Glenavon with victory despite conceding early on to Ryan Curran against Cliftonville.
January transfer business by O’Connor has led to arrivals such as John Mountney, Conor Falls, Nathaniel Ferris, Charlie Lindsay and Gavin Gilmore helping reshape the squad in the aftermath of player exits and in line with progress plans.
"A massive win,” said O’Connor. “With our line-up that I put out, it was really attacking.
"We knew it was going to be end-to-end...they've got attacking players.
"But I trusted us...I thought we were a better team, we had better chances.
"I thought the last 15-20 minutes, since we were out in the lead, they didn't look like scoring.
"No matter who we play, we're not going to sit and let them dictate the play.
"We're going to be the ones that play on the front foot and show that play.
"If you're bottom of the league most of the season, your confidence is going to be shot.
"I think if you look at us in matches, it doesn't look like that.
"I've tried to create, since I stepped in, that togetherness within the squad.
"I think the first two or three weeks we had 14, 15 players training max.
"Now we have 21, 22 players training...so we've got that competition for places.
"We were playing a top team today, a top manager.
"It's good to get the three points, what we need at the end of the day."
Hopes for another forward step in the against-the-odds Premiership survival surge appeared diminished by Curran’s composed first-half finish.
However, McGovern’s near-post run and strike to cap a Peter Campbell cut-back cross left it level before the latter delivered a corner-kick after the break Harry Murphy turned home off a close-range header.
Glenavon’s Mourneview Park lifeline appeared gone when a trailing leg of Cliftonville goalkeeper Lewis Ridd diverted Nathaniel Ferris’ penalty drive down the middle at 1-1.
"They get the first chance and it's a soft goal to concede...I was thinking 'here we go again' but the boys showed great character and resilience to keep going,” said O’Connor. "I thought they even raised their standards even more after that goal.
"We kept pushing, we got the goal...great finish by Paul McGovern.
"A cut-back from Peter (Campbell), he's come inside...it's really important that I try and get Paul or my opposite winger to go and make the extra centre-forward.
"They've done that really well.
"Then I thought the second half there was only one team going to win it (Murphy’s header put Glenavon ahead by 2-1).
"It could have ended up 4-1...(Nathaniel) Ferris missed his penalty, the keeper's made an unbelievable save from Stevie Mallon.”