Larne midfielder Chris Gallagher has given his manager a ringing endorsement as the Invermen prepare for the Toalsbet Co Antrim Shield Final tonight.
Glentoran are the opponents in the final at Seaview tonight, a club Gallagher knows well from his three-year spell at the East Belfast outfit.
A renaissant Glentoran team under Declan Devine is gunning to win their first trophy since the Irish Cup victory in 2020.
But Larne are course and distance winners having won the trophy over the last four years and are in no mood to relinquish the Shield.
Tiernan Lynch was in the dugout for the previous four wins before leaving for Derry City last month.
Nathan Rooney was his appointed successor but didn’t have a European ProLicence so Gary Haveron stepped up to fill the role.
Larne were knocked out of the Irish Cup by Limavady United but rallied to beat Crusaders and Cliftonville in the league before Saturday’s dress rehearsal at The Oval was abandoned due to floodlight failure.
Gallagher insists Haveron is the right man for the job and says he and his team mates were unperturbed by the manner of his elevation to the hot seat.
“He wouldn’t be in that position if he wasn’t capable”, said the 25-year-old defensive midfielder.
“The people who are in charge of the club wouldn’t give him that responsibility if they didn’t feel he was the man who could lead us forward.
“Yes, we’ve had a few bumps along the way but that’s football and it happens at every club. I don’t think it was turbulent at all.
“Yes, there was a transition but with any manager leaving, there’s always going to be that period of change.
“The process was kept away from the players and our focus was training daily and performing on the pitch.
“I don’t think it had any effect on us and it’s all sorted now.
“Gaz is unbelievable at what he does and the thing that stands out the most is how he cares about each individual at the club, whether that’s the chef, the analyst or the kitmen.
“All that goes a long way.”
The Shield is the only domestic trophy missing from Gallagher’s haul of trophies in a successful career.
Ironically, he was playing for Glentoran in 2021 when Larne won the first of their four final victories, beating the Glens in a penalty shootout.
Gallagher recognises the threat posed by Declan Devine’s team but is determined to deny his former club.
“They’re going well, found a bit of form and created that culture that was probably needed for a long time.
“It’s very different and you don’t see many reports about Glentoran in the media that we’ve been used to in the past.
“They are in a good place but for us it’s about looking after ourselves.
“We are going for five-in-a-row and it’s that winning mentality that we’ve created, which is something we want to continue.
“It’s the first trophy up for grabs and we want to be the team to win the first piece of silverware this year.”