Paddy McLaughlin backing tomorrow’s prospects for today’s points

A growing injury list has left McLaughlin’s selection options stretched so far but the Reds manager is confident those called up can always deliver.

“At the minute the timing is not great given eight or so first-team players stand out,” said McLaughlin ahead of today’s trip to tackle Larne at Inver Park. “But it offers opportunities to other players and a clear plan was to use pre-season to help integrate the younger lads into our senior squad.

“We don’t have the financial resources to bring in lots of players but, also, promoting from within is part of the club approach.

“Our preparations for the season centred on having the young players in line to step in and cover, especially for injuries and suspensions.

“We planned plenty of pre-season games to make the younger players comfortable with the senior squad’s matchday experience for situations like now.

“We aim to present chances to those prospects and the young players have never let us down in the past.

“Odhran Casey, at 18 years old, is certainly a player of real potential but far from the only one at the club.

“Donal Rocks and Calvin McCurry have had injury problems.

“Aaron Donnelly’s progress over the past 12 months has been a reward for working his socks off.

“At one point he was contemplating going out on loan for first-team experience but we could always see his ability.

“You see the fitness and mentality from Aaron and he has grabbed his chance to do a brilliant job.

“The development coaching team at Cliftonville put so much into helping our young players and to create that conveyor belt.”

McLaughlin’s time at Cliftonville has attracted praise for an attractive style of play - acclaim also assigned to adventurous Larne.

“Larne are now a few years into the full-time move and it’s certainly starting to bear fruit,” said McLaughlin. “For any club to do well against Larne they will have to be at their best.

“The job Tiernan Lynch has done is brilliant, they’ve put together a strong squad - but we feel we also have a strong squad and can be more than a match for any team on our day.

“You look at the improvements made thanks to the investment at Larne, Inver Park is certainly transformed from my playing days!

“It’s a great surface and one all teams will enjoy playing on - certainly we will look forward to the pitch.

“We played Larne three times last season and each game was excellent, tough but with good football.

“Both teams like to get it down and play a certain way, last season I thought Larne and Linfield were the best footballing teams in the league.

“So, everything is set up for a good game, certainly an entertaining match.”