On a night when many Glentoran supporters might have toasted a famous Big Two success with something a little stronger, manager Warren Feeney revealed how a cup of tea played an important role in the build-up to the game.
The Glens completely dismantled an abject Linfield on Friday night at the Oval, beating their major rivals 4-0 while putting on a swashbuckling display that delivered a win that will live long in those fans’ memories.
Reflecting on his team’s win on a bitterly cold night in east Belfast, Feeney was calm and collected, rightly praising his players while also warning of the importance of not getting carried away.
He gave an insight into his determination to do things his way, though, when he explained what his injury-hit squad’s preparations for the game entailed.
“I took the boys up the Newtownards Road for a walk and a cup of tea [on Thursday],” he said.
“That was our training session. We have got to get into the community more and sometimes you have got to change it up.”
He added: “I came in, had a look at who was fit and said ‘right, let’s go, get your hats and your gloves on’. We walked up the Newtownards Road, had a cup of tea and then came back here and did a box [a possession drill usually that is often part of team’s warm-ups].”
Praise for front players
That walk and cuppa clearly worked as the Glens started the match in blistering fashion, took the lead through Shay McCartan in the third minute and could have been a lot more than three goals ahead by half time.
It was Daire O’Connor and the hugely-impressive Niall McGinn who scored goals two and three, with O’Connor adding a lovely fourth midway through the second half.
McGinn was instrumental in the success, with the 36-year-old Northern Ireland international winger setting three goals up while continually getting in behind the right side of Linfield’s beleaguered defence.
Feeney recognised the contribution made by his former international team-mate.
“Niall is a good player, we all know that. He is an international for a reason and has got 70-odd caps,” ex-Linfield player-manager Feeney said.
“I have played with Niall and have had some great nights with him but he is the first one to come and wrap my door if he is not playing.
“I’ve told him [we want] the Niall McGinn when he is taking people on. He has produced it tonight with outstanding passes for the goals.”
With Feeney explaining that he changed the team’s shape for the visit of the Blues, it looked like Glentoran were playing in a 4-4-2 formation, with McGinn getting so much joy on the left-hand side, McCartan joining summer signing David Fisher up front and O’Connor continually a threat on the right.
And it was not just McGinn that earned praise from the manager.
“Little Shay McCartan, you fire him up front and play him through the middle.
“At times he has probably been playing from the left. He has come here and played in the hole, but I remember watching Shay and trying to sign him when I was at Newport and he was at Accrington.
“He was a striker then. He has scored two goals in two games now, he is a tough little boy, handles the ball well.
“Daire has got pace and I keep saying to him that he has got to keep using it. I’ve told big Fisher that he needs to show composure, he wants to score world-class goals, but his all-round performance was very good.”
Asked if he could identify what it was in his team’s performance that produced a comprehensive win over a table-topping Linfield side that were 15 points ahead of them before kick-off, Feeney looked to a somewhat basic element of the game.
“We had a gameplan of what we wanted to do but in football, I keep saying this, you can play all the football you want but there is no right and no wrong way to win a game of football.
“For me, football is all about running. You know the way I was as a player, I didn’t have the ability of a Steven Davis but I will tell you what, I would go and chase things.
“I said that to the players, that if you have someone who is running behind and harassing them you will win throw-ins and corners in the opposition’s half, and it takes the pressure off you.”
‘Fans are fans, I’m here to do a job’
As a former Linfield player-manager, Feeney’s appointment as Glentoran boss in the summer was a somewhat controversial one, with a lot of supporters voicing their disapproval at the time.
There has been criticism of some performances during what has been an inconsistent season so far, but Feeney said that did not make Friday night’s win any sweeter.
“Fans will always have opinions, but I don’t read social media, I have just got to focus on those boys [his players] and that’s it.
“I’m an east Belfast boy myself. I walk my dog up the Newtownards Road and and I walk my dog down the Newtownards Road. I’m here. Fans are fans, they support the club. I’m here to do a job and I’ll give 110% to that.
“Nights like this make it easier but I can’t worry about it because you are always going to have opinions. At Linfield or Glentoran if you lose a game, you know yourselves what happens. We will take this three points but we will not get carried away and we will move on to Cliftonville now.”
That trip to Solitude is next Saturday. There could well be another walk up the Newtownards Road on Friday.
