MANAGER'S VERDICT: Rodney McAree reveals 'nobody has approached us' for Dungannon Swifts stars after moving second with five-star Crusaders showing

John McGovern and Tomas Galvin both struck braces while Brandon Bermingham also scored on his Premiership debut.

Here’s what manager Rodney McAree had to say after the game:

WAS THAT THE PLAN?

"Probably not so because we had Mitch (Andrew Mitchell) starting through the middle and we were forced into making a change before the match started.

"He got hit on the head with the ball and when he fell he tweaked something in his shoulder. The physio thought it wasn’t a good idea to start him so we took him out and went from there.

"When you have the likes of Brandon Bermingham or Tomas Galvin to choose from it makes it a bit easier to make that change because of the qualities they bring and gives us the opportunity to put John through the middle and with his pace we could stretch Crusaders and we score the first goal through that.

"He did extremely well, was a threat, got us up the pitch, created space for other people and allowed us to play a bit of football.”

ON WILLINGNESS TO PLAY DIRECT WITH PACE UP FRONT

"We feel as if we have pace with Leo (Alves) too – he likes to drop in but he has pace too to run beyond and we’ve two full-backs that like to get up the pitch as well.

"Then we’ve Brandon and John McGovern with added pace. We always knew we could be a threat in behind.

"When I first came back to Dungannon there was too much play away from the opposition goal and we want to try and get there a bit quicker...if that means being a bit more direct at times I’ve no problem with it.

"You can’t always be short and play in front of the opposition because you become predictable.”

ON JOHN MCGOVERN AND CONFIDENCE FLOWING

"He probably went through a wee stage where he wasn’t weighing in with goals or missing the odd opportunity but that’ll happen – as long as he’s still getting into those good areas and giving himself opportunities we’re happy.

"We know he will come good again. The players are happy at this moment in time and nobody has approached us for any of them.

"They are in a good place, enjoying their football, have smiles on their faces and are scoring goals. At some stage, Dungannon Swifts probably always lose their best players, but it won’t be at this moment in time.”

ON TOMAS GALVIN

"He’s one that has probably been lacking a bit of confidence in front of goal. His first one he doesn’t strike cleanly but it’s right in the corner.

"He takes free-kicks every Thursday night after training and he’s very good at them. If we hadn’t made the changes we did then he would never had got taking the free-kick but with other personnel sitting in the dugout he gets an opportunity...what a strike.

"It’s a nice way to finish off a very good performance.”

ON IF HE’D EVEN CHANGE THAT TEAM WITH MORE MONEY

"What I’d love is a bit of added investment so we could have an extra night training and still work with the same group of players we have.

"I wouldn’t go out and spend more on higher profile players, but keep the squad we have and be able to give them a bit extra to get an extra night training and that could help us in the long run.

"I think (it’s feasible) and we have a group of players at this moment in time who would buy into it. We do it on the odd occasion but can’t do it regularly because players would ask for a couple of quid.

"I don’t think it would cost an awful pile of money to do it but it’s something we’ve spoken about as a club. I’ve a great chairman and vice-chairman who work their socks off to give us what we have.

"They’d love to push on too and the only way we improve again is a bit of added finance to try and do something a bit different.”