Glentoran boss Mick McDermott shielding his players…

Glentoran boss Mick McDermott shielding his players from mood of fans

Mick McDermott insists he’ll be keeping the blinkers on as Glentoran look to build on their excellent start to the season.

The Oval men made it five league wins on the spin with a gritty 1-0 victory over Coleraine in east Belfast on Saturday thanks to Conor McMenamin’s 62nd minute strike.

The Glens currently sit top of the table - a stark contrast to last season’s laboured start, which reached a nadir in the 3-0 home defeat to arch rivals Linfield that led to questions over McDermott’s future.

Yet the 48-year-old insists the noise around the club is part and parcel of the job and the only solution is to focus on the task at hand. "It’s always there, it doesn’t matter if you start poorly or start well,” said McDermott.

“This time last year, myself and David Healy walked out here before the game and I said: ‘You know how this works. It’s either you or me getting it!’

“He said: ‘No, it’s too early in the season for that’. It wasn’t! I was ‘getting sacked in the morning’.

“So the expectations at clubs like this are high and we can’t change what we are trying to do based on the mood of the fans.

“It’s important, you want a positive mood from the fans but the only way you get that is by winning.

“We’ll lose again, unfortunately that’s how football works but you just have to motor on.”

Mick McDermott with his Manager of the Month award (Philip Magowan/PressEye)

Manager of the month McDermott believes his team are benefitting from the understanding that develops naturally over time.

“We’ve a more stable squad. The first season we came in, we threw a team together. The second season we signed 12 players in the window. The next summer we signed nine.

“This summer we moved out a few and we brought in a few of quality but the players who are playing are the majority of boys who were here last year.

“And they’re good lads, which is important.”

Reflecting on the weekend’s victory over the Bannsiders, McDermott felt his players showed maturity and composure against one of the best sides in the country.

“We deserved to win, no doubt about it. I’m not sure they had a shot on target.

“You’ve got to be patient and organised to defend, teams can knock the ball around in this league nowadays, it’s not just hoof it forward like 20 years ago.”

His team have certainly shown their defensive prowess this season, having conceded just one goal in their six league games so far.

McDermott is keen to emphasise that such solidity is due to every player on his team putting a shift in, front to back.

“You see Conor McMenamin, how hard he works, Jay Donnelly’s the same. Hrvoje Plum was superb. Terry Devlin, again, for an 18-year-old kid, he’s excellent.

“I’m not completely happy with the performance but we did more than enough to win it.

“There’s a lot to work on, which is good. The players know that as well, so I think we’ll improve.

“We’ve some of the boys finding their stride now.

“We’re happy with where we are - happy but not satisfied.

“We’re six games in, there are another 32 to go so we’ll just keep going.”

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