Jim Ervin believes proven Irish League performers can help 'drive the standards' at Ballymena United

Ervin has enjoyed another impressive transfer window with O’Connor and Clarke joined at Ballymena by the likes of David Toure, Joel Thompson and Jack O’Reilly.

O’Connor lit up the Irish League during his last stint with Glentoran, scoring 15 goals and providing 14 assists across all competitions, while Clarke won five Gibson Cup crowns throughout a trophy-laden Linfield tenure.

Both players are returning to the Premiership after spells in Scotland – O’Connor at Hamilton Academical and Clarke with Livingston – and Ervin hopes their experience will prove crucial as the Sky Blues look to climb the table.

"Daire was absolutely top drawer to deal with,” said Ervin. “I’ve been speaking to Daire since February or March about his situation at Hamilton and he was very open and honest that he didn’t know where he was going to be.

"We were open with him too and there was a lot of interest in him, but thankfully for us with the vision we sold him, he opted for ourselves.

"Likewise with Matty Clarke coming home.

"Matty is an experienced player and could have had his pick of clubs, but he’s another one where my relationship with him probably helped in knowing him so well that when he was coming home we could get a head start and he knows what I’m about and the standards I want to bring to the club.

"When you look at the league titles Matty has won, there’s very few in our team that have league medals, maybe Sean O’Neill is the only other one.

“Sean has done it for years at the football club and we want to add to that and bring people in. We’re not looking to bring in experienced players at the end of their career, that’s not what we’re after.

"We look at Clarkey, the age he is at and what he has done, he has plenty of football left in him and we’re hoping with his leadership and experience he can drive the standards even higher.”

Ballymena finished ninth last season, an improvement of two positions from the previous campaign, and will now look to further build in what appears an even more competitive top-flight.

"You look at what Coleraine have been building, that’s an incredible story with what they’ve managed to do over the summer,” added Ervin. “Linfield are Linfield...people have been very disrespectful towards the football club with saying they’ve won the league and it’s not a strong Linfield team.

"It takes a special type of person to play at Linfield with their demands and they’ll always be there challenging, no matter what.

"The Glens have recruited and put a really good squad together. You look across the league and see every team getting stronger and the amount of players coming from outside the league.

"It’s very exciting and going to be very competitive. I don’t think until we get to Christmas or so we’ll be able to see what’s going to happen.”