Europa League Play-Off Semi Final
Tuesday 7th May 2019, Kick Off 7.45pm
Our season moves into the sudden death stage on Tuesday night as we visit Mourneview Park in the semi final of the Europa League playoffs.
This is our third appearance at this stage in the past four seasons and so far, we are unbeaten. In May 2016 we came away from Coleraine with a 2-1 win through goals from Calum Birney and Curtis Allen while last year we recovered from training 2-0 away to Linfield to win 4-3 through goals from Dylan Davidson, John McGuigan, Willie Garrett and another winner from Curtis Allen. This year we’ll be determined to go one better by winning this round then finally winning the final against either Coleraine or Cliftonville on Saturday night.
The manner of our three results so far have typified the way our season panned out. We scored first in all three matches but finished up with one point out of nine. On our last trip to Lurgan, back in September, we took a deserved second half 1-0 lead through Robbie McDaid only to give away an unnecessary penalty to finish the match at 1-1. The game at the Oval in October will be remembered for a long time for the decisions of referee Keith Kennedy rather than for the football played. In that game we led 1-0, again from McDaid (his fifth goal in five games against his old club) before a series of sendings off, a wrongly disallowed goal and a wrongly allowed one sent the Glens support shaking their heads in bewilderment the whole way home. Fair to say in February at the Oval we only had ourselves to blame when, ahead from a Darren Murray penalty and looking well in control with twelve minutes to go, we collapsed when Gary Hamilton introduced himself as a late sub and turned the match – 2-1 Glenavon! It can be argued that our performances merited something more than we received, slack late defending has cost us far too many points this season.
We can feel positive visiting Mourneview however, as we have had just one defeat in our last ten league visits and no defeats there since April 2015. We do, of course, now have a high-profile recent arrival from Glenavon with Paul Millar now back in the Glens dugout after seven very successful years as Assistant Manager in Lurgan. Windy’s intimate knowledge of Tuesday’s opponents should be of great value to us.
Mick McDermott: “I was delighted we beat Institute to qualify for these playoffs. The playoff system provides an opportunity for teams like us, who’ve had a difficult season, to compete for a European place and all that goes with it, gives the [players a chance to show what they can do, and to give the supporters an exciting and positive end to the season. We’re unbeaten since the split whereas most of the other teams have been less consistent so I expect our players too go into the match with confidence and absolute commitment from the start. We have a full squad available apart from the two longer term injuries, so everyone is available and ready for this one.
We know Glenavon have had a great season and gained a record number of Premiership points for them. Also, they’ve qualified for Europe regularly under Gary. So, they’re clearly favourites and we’re underdogs. But we’re very confident going into the match. We’re on a good, unbeaten run and Glentoran’s excellent record at Mourneview in recent years means the players won’t have any fears going there. With the right approach and a big, supportive crowd behind us I’m confident our season won’t end on Tuesday night.”
Finally, if he plays on Tuesday this will be Marcus Kane’s 250th match for the club. Mick – who just this week discovered that he was at school with both Marcus’ parents - said of his skipper: “Marcus has been outstanding since I came to the club. As captain he sets a great example to his team mates as he has shown great leadership and resilience leading us into the playoffs. I know from others that Marcus has shown great versatility over the years and we’ve had to play him in three different positions in my five games due to injuries and suspensions. But his willingness as a senior player to move around demonstrates his quality and his total commitment to the Glentoran cause. We’re lucky to have him.”
