New Glenavon star knew he wanted to join the club from very first meeting with 'top level' Stephen McDonnell

Doona was the first of eight players signed by McDonnell in January – his arrival was actually announced in November but he had to wait for the window to open before making a debut – and the ex-Shamrock Rovers winger has certainly hit his stride in recent weeks, scoring in consecutive Premiership fixtures against title-chasing Linfield and Cliftonville.

Having also spent time in the League of Ireland with St Patrick’s Athletic, Athlone Town, Cork City and Longford Town, Doona was ready for a new challenge and had little doubt about his next destination after speaking to McDonnell, who was appointed in late-September.

"I met him a few weeks before I signed and I went straight home to my dad and said 'that's the next club for me and I want to play for him',” he said. “I can't even describe it...his detail to the game and his football knowledge is second to none.

"He's top level. He's so young and it goes to show how good his knowledge is and he has such a drive to become a top coach and to do big things in the game. He gives lots of good detail but it's not like he overflows you and scrambles your brain...he's bang on the money every time.

"He said to me with being a winger that he wanted to get me back to where I was when I was breaking through and playing regularly for big teams down south.

"He thought his style of play would fit me perfectly and it has been great. I've been playing with a smile on my face."

Doona has started in all of Glenavon’s last seven matches, netting on debut in the Irish Cup against Knockbreda, and will have a big role to play if the Lurgan Blues are to finish in the Premiership’s top-half or qualify for European football.

They’re five points adrift of sixth-placed Coleraine going into Saturday’s clash against Crusaders at Seaview, where they’ll be hoping to end a winless run which has spanned five games.

McDonnell’s men have dominated periods of most matches they’ve played in with their exciting brand of attacking football and Doona is confident results are just around the corner.

"We kind of play like a team that has been together for a year or so,” he added. “Even in training you can see we're building good relationships and it hasn't even been that long.

"Stevie hasn't been there for long himself so it's a credit to him and the club how welcoming everybody has been to us and we're putting the work in to gel together. The next step is results and I do think they're going to come.

"This is a big game now (against Crusaders)...it's one we have to go and win. We want to get a spot in Europe and we need to be beating teams around us to get that advantage.

"It's a game we're looking forward to. There's no pressure on us really because we're all new, but we can thrive off that.

"We want to get ahead in games early and steamroll teams for three or four...that's the next step for us and I think it's going to happen very soon."