Mick McDermott says Jay Donnelly has come a long way since his first training session with Glentoran.
It was back in September 2020 that Donnelly swapped Belfast Celtic for the Glens.
McDermott, a former fitness coach with the Iran national football team, helped the then 24-year-old striker get up to speed following his return to the Premiership.
The session was at the Oval, and included club captain Marcus Kane who was returning from injury at the time.
McDermott told Belfast Live's That's What I Call Football podcast: "Jay has been superb this season. He has been superb since he came in.
"Obviously it took him a while to adapt. I remember his first training session with us on the Oval. I had him by himself. Marcus Kane was there because he was coming off an injury himself, so I trained them alone for about 45 minutes.
"I think Jay went up and down the sideline about three times and ended up bent over with his hands on his knees.
"So that gave you a reflection of where his fitness was prior to that. So it took him a while to get his body up to where it needed to be."
Donnelly hadn't kicked much football in the two years prior to his arrival on Mersey Street.
He served a three-month prison sentence in 2019 for distributing an indecent image of a child, and was later charged by the Irish FA with bringing the game into disrepute and suspended from playing football for five months.
Donnelly was also sacked by Cliftonville - his club at the time - after he was given his prison sentence.
He returned to football in January 2020 when he signed for Belfast Celtic, and had some game time in the Ballymena and Provincial Intermediate League before joining Glentoran in September that year.
"He probably didn't hit the ground running as you would expect from someone coming in from that situation, but he worked hard," McDermott added.
"He doesn't look the biggest lad, but believe it or not he is relatively strong when he gets himself in the gym. He has worked hard on his training, and he is eating and sleeping better.
"All those things that come with being a football player.
"And I think his performances have shown that this season."
Northern Ireland manager Ian Baraclough said in a weekend newspaper that he would consider calling up Donnelly - who signed a new long-term deal with the Glens this week - if the striker continues scoring goals.
The international boss hasn't shied away from giving Irish League talent a chance, most notably with former Linfield striker Shayne Laverty.
McDermott believes Donnelly's all-round game often gets overlooked, and is confident his player wouldn't look out of place training with Northern Ireland's squad.
"It is not just the goals. What you don't see when you watch it on TV is the movement of Jay and other top players in the league.
He keeps defenders constantly on edge, and if you go to sleep for one second he's gone," McDermott added.
"That's the quality he has, and I do believe that if he was given a chance at that level with Northern Ireland, he wouldn't look out of place at all with those players.
"That's my opinion after working with him for one-and-a-half years. It has gone in a blink.
"We hope to have him here for a long, long time. Which we will do."
