Handy Andy gets the praise as Bannsiders win

Ian Parkhill was the hero as his brace, one at the start of either half, was enough to give the Bannsiders their first home league win in four months.

But as Parkhill grabbed the headlines boss Oran Kearney was quick to highlight the contribution of youngsters Jamie McGonigle and Andy Findlay.

McGonigle was excellent throughout again as he led the line creating Parkhill’s second.

At the other end of the pitch keeper Findlay looked very assured again and produced a terrific save to deny Darren Forsyth with the score at 1-0.

“The young players showed up very well again,” Kearney told Times Sport after the game.

“Jamie was excellent again today he led the line superbly well, we took him off near the end as he had a wee niggle with his knee.

“He has shown up so well over the last few games and we’re delighted for him.

“We’re also delighted for Andy Findlay. It’s very hard for any kid to come through and play Irish League football, but for a young keeper there’s even more expectation on their shoulders as you can afford to make a mistake playing outfield and get away with it, but if you do it as a keeper you’ll be punished.

“Andy has been such a big plus for us over the last four or five games, he had a tough debut against Ballymena in relation to the manner of the game he was going into, everything since that has been brilliant.

“So credit to him and credit to everyone at the club in relation to the progress he has made.

“Lyndon played last night for Northern Ireland which ruled him out and Brad has a wee hamstring problem otherwise they would have been involved again today also.”

Kearney was also delighted to see Parkhill grab a double on the day, his only disappointment was he didn’t make it a treble.

“I’m delighted to see Ian chip in with a couple of goals,” said Kearney.

“He was sort of playing out right today, which is even better from him, we pushed him up through the middle for the last 20 minutes as we wanted him to get the third as senior hat-tricks are hard to come by no matter what stage of the season you score them.

“I threw him up there for the last part of the game and to be fair he had a great chance and he’s kicking himself in there that he missed it.

“Shane McGinty probably should have scored but it fell nicely for Ian but the defender has blocked it, but he’ll probably never get a better chance for a senior hat-trick.”

The Bannsiders season draws to a close this Saturday as they entertain already relegated Institute.

“The goal is to finish off the season with another win,” said Kearney.

“It’s important to finish the season on a high and we will be going out determined to get the three points again as it would cap the season off nicelt with the awards dinner that evening.

“The big aim was to finish the season on a high. I thought our performance today was brilliant and we dominated large chunks of the game.

“As I say the only thing I would have liked would have been a few more goals.”