Niall Currie has been managing in the Irish League for almost two decades, enjoying numerous promotions and winning silverware along the way, but is still ticking off milestones after marking his first-ever victory at The Oval following Portadown’s 2-0 win over Glentoran.

The East Belfast venue hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the Ports in recent times – going in to Saturday’s fixture they hadn’t won in 14 matches across 11 years – while their last victory over the Glens was a 5-3 triumph at Shamrock Park in December 2015 when legendary boss Ronnie McFall was still in charge.

That’s now all changed after Shay McCartan’s second half penalty and Ryan Mayse’s injury time strike sealed success and continued what has been a superb return to top-flight football for Portadown.

The County Armagh outfit have now lost only one of their last six league matches, beating the likes of Larne, Ballymena United and now Glentoran on that run, and sit just two points adrift of second-placed Cliftonville in what remains a competitive Premiership campaign.

placeholder image — A satisfied Portadown manager Niall Currie after beating Glentoran. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)

"People are talking about the first time in 11 years for Portadown, I think that's my first win at The Oval in my whole managerial career!” Currie told the club’s media channel. “I was taking Loughgall, Ards and teams like that at Championship level, but that's my first win and it's a really proud day.

"I'm extremely proud of the players - I thought they were magnificent and they believed in themselves today."

When told he was the first Portadown manager to beat Glentoran since McFall, who guided the club to four Irish League titles and was at the helm for almost 1,500 matches, Currie laughed: "That'll do me! Anything in that man's shadow, absolutely no problem at all! Absolutely delighted."

While Portadown are generating momentum, Glentoran have now won just one of their last five league matches and dropped to seventh after Saturday’s defeat.

In nine home games this season, Declan Devine’s side have scored a joint-Premiership low six goals – they’ve also conceded just six, the second-best record behind Cliftonville (five) – and Currie reinforced a ‘no fear’ message to his players at half-time which ultimately paid dividends.

"I thought the players were brilliant, absolutely magnificent,” he added. “Our first half performance was as good as it has been at any stage this season.

"To come to a full-time club and really dominate the game...I thought for the first 45 minutes we absolutely dominated proceedings. We should have been two or three goals to the good and that was the biggest disappointment coming in at half-time.

"I told the players 'there's nothing to fear here'. The biggest thing I said before the game is too many teams come to this place and they are 1-0 down before they even come out because of the atmosphere.

"I asked the players to be brave and told them to show no fear, believe in themselves and they did that."