Keeper Shanahan says Sky Blues need to show ‘right mentality’

The Sky Blues produced arguably their worst performance of the campaign, slumping to a 3-0 loss at the hands of a weakened Glens outfit.

Shanahan was probably the only Ballymena player to emerge with any credit, with a string of saves preventing the east Belfast side from winning by a bigger margin.

“Friday night wasn’t great at all,” reflected the former Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk stopper.

“You look at our team which had just one change from last week but one thing that probably did change was the way we approached the game.

“You can’t take on any team in this league thinking ‘we’ll put on a performance automatically’ - we have to produce the performances ourselves and we didn’t do that.

“The manager can only say so much - it’s up to the players to take it on board. Glenn told us he wanted us to play a certain way and it just didn’t happen.”

Friday night was a rare low moment for the 29-year-old, who has relished his move to the Showgrounds after both of United’s senior keepers were struck down by season-ending injuries.

“I was training with Malahide in Dublin with John Gill, who’s now Shamrock Rovers’ assistant manager, just trying to keep myself ticking over. Dermot O’Neill is good friends with John and he mentioned the situation at Ballymena and I got the recommendation from there.

“Yohann Lacroix was here at the time and was doing quite well so I was wondering whether I was going to play but thankfully it has worked out in my favour.

“Historically in the League of Ireland I would get a call late December, early January when clubs are finalising their budget and looking at their squads and I generally get a club from there.

“I was hopeful of getting a club but I wasn’t prepared to get a club so soon and for that club to be Ballymena!

“If I’m honest with myself, I wasn’t the sharpest when I came and even still I’m a bit off the pace in my own opinion but I’m working hard to rectify that.”

Shanahan’s short-term contract runs out at the end of the season but he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of staying.

“I have to see how the other keepers are fixed up for next season because I know there’s not going to be three goalkeepers and that is fine.

“If I do a good enough job and if I’m wanted for next year I would be more than happy to sit down and talk to Glenn about it but I’m just focusing on my own performances from week to week because any other distractions aren’t helpful.”

Shanahan has also been a central figure in United’s run to the Irish Cup semi-final, but warns that his team-mates can’t take anything for granted against Queen’s.

“We’ve put in the performances when we’ve had to. The Linfield game was something special, not to take anything away from the Dungannon game.

“We were fortunate to scrape through and get a replay against the Welders but thankfully that’s history.

“All we can do is look forward to the next game because we’re not going to achieve a lot if we don’t approach games with the right mentality,” added Shanahan.