Newington star believes January signing Ruaidhri Donnelly can be 'difference maker' in pursuit of top-half Championship finish

The former Swansea City and Gillingham attacker signed for Paul Hamilton’s side in the final hours of January’s transfer window on loan from Glentoran until the end of this season and wasted no time in showing his quality, scoring a brace in last weekend’s 2-1 Irish Cup sixth round upset of Premiership outfit Newry City.

That helped set up a quarter-final clash with Larne at Inver Park on March 2 and midfielder Paul, who was voted Newington’s Player of the Month for January after scoring four goals in as many matches, could barely believe that they attracted someone of Ruaidhri’s quality.

"I heard that more clubs were in for Rory but it's a great signing for us and I think he will really help push us on in our aim to get into the top-six,” he said. “It was a surprise that we signed him and nobody could really believe it, but we're a good side.

"You see on Saturday that he's a difference maker. He had a couple of chances and the two he put away he tucked away really well. He can be the difference maker for us and hopefully he can help push us on."

Having starred for both Cliftonville and Glentoran in the Irish League, Donnelly brings not only quality, but also crucial experience as Newington, who currently sit ninth, look to break into the top-half ahead of the upcoming split.

"Even when he came into training everybody got a buzz off it and he has great quality and experience,” he added. “He's talking people through the games and even at training he's passing down his experience to younger boys like me.

"It's a big boost bringing someone of Rory's calibre in with his goals and quality. We've a couple of games in hand and we're looking forward to getting Rory firing for us."

Next month’s clash with Larne will be in familiar surroundings for Newington as they also call Inver Park home, but Donnelly is expecting a very different test against Tiernan Lynch’s top-flight title-chasers.

"It's another good day out for us and people probably didn't expect us to get this far,” he added. “We'll treat it like another game again and try to get another result, as hard as it will be.

"That's what we call our home ground and we're used to it down there. It's going to be a very different test to Newry but we want to play our game. We've nothing to lose...they are the Premiership champions so we will do our best."