'No doubt there'll be eyes on him' - Cup scalp hat-trick hero Rory Powell 'can go on and be better'
Warrenpoint Town boss Gary Boyle accepts “there’ll be eyes on him’ after hat-trick hero Rory Powell fired the second-tier side to an extra-time senior scalp of Crusaders.
But for Boyle, who has watched 20-year-old Powell progress across Warrenpoint’s youth system, his eye-catching midweek performance in the BetMcLean Cup shock should be celebrated for the steel as well as skill.
Powell, fresh from a superb weekend Championship strike in Warrenpoint’s 2-2 league draw with Ballinamallard United, claimed the match ball with three moments of magic to help see off 10-man Crues by 5-2.
And Boyle was full of praise for Powell’s collective contribution alongside the individual class.
“Even from my time at Newry, I knew about Rory...he's always had that potential,” said Boyle. “Fantastic individual performance, goals aside.
"The technical ability has always been there but I think he's adding a real sort of physicality to his game that has improved immensely in the last six months.
"His attacking ability is off the charts so we've always just said to him about maturing and adding that graft...no doubt there'll be eyes on him after such a standout performance.
"Obviously the goals put the tin hat on it but he's improving and I do think that he can go on and be better.
"He's playing with confidence, he's scoring goals, it's brilliant for everybody involved in the club that he's come up through the Academy structure.
"Rory's improved year-on-year and he's really stepped up to the plate this season...he's obviously maturing as a player and as a person.
"He's getting physically stronger and his work ethic has defined him in terms of how he's now performing.”
Warrenpoint’s rise up into the spotlight off that Crusaders victory is one Boyle counts as a win down the club ranks.
"It gives all the coaches a boost, it gives players within the Academy somebody to look to,” he said, following victory which also featured Adetobi Jinadu on the Warrenpoint target, with Donal Rocks and Adam Reid the Crues scorers but Thomas Maguire sent off at 1-0. "Similar, too, Daire Trainor...has come up through the Academy, come on and scored his first senior goal against Premiership opposition.
"So a really, really good night for the club as a whole."