Rodney McAree praise for Dungannon Swifts star who 'will run through a brick wall for you'
Rodney McAree has been delighted by the impact of Tiernan Kelly since his summer arrival at Dungannon Swifts – saying the midfielder “will run through a brick wall for you”.
Kelly gained previous Premiership experience at Loughgall, racking up 56 appearances across their two top-flight campaigns prior to the Co Armagh club suffering relegation last term.
The Swifts made a quick move to snap up Kelly, who has now started in each of Dungannon’s last six league matches after serving a suspension which came after being sent off in Europe.
Kelly scored his maiden Dungannon goal in their impressive 2-0 victory over high-flying Larne last weekend – a result which means McAree’s men have now put together a three-game winning run ahead of Saturday’s clash against unbeaten league leaders Glentoran.
The 23-year-old is establishing himself in a competitive Dungannon midfield which also includes the likes of Gael Bigirimana and Kealan Dillon, and McAree has enjoyed working alongside Kelly across recent months.
"We encourage him at times to arrive late (in the box),” said McAree. “Tiernan's one of those boys that you enjoy working with because he's such an honest kid.
"He'll run through a brick wall for you, he'll work tirelessly for you and he'll give you everything that he has. He has quality as well in terms of he can play, he can get on the ball and he can pass it. He's done extremely well and fit in really well.”
The Swifts endured a torrid start to their league campaign, losing five consecutive matches, but have turned a corner in fine fashion, and McAree can see confidence building once again in his changing room.
"We had a slow start to the season, we have one game to go in this round of fixtures and we're now sitting on 12 points,” he added. “All in all, it probably hasn't been an overly bad start either.
“It just took us some time getting going. Junior has come in and done really well, but that's no reflection on the other forwards that we have.
"The other forwards that we have are very, very good players. Junes has just come in at a good time for us and added a wee bit of freshness to us that we needed at that stage.
"It's nice to be going in the right direction, but we know there's a lot of hard work if we're going to continue to do that.”