Millar's delight at signings

In the wake of a spate of experienced departures, determined manager Paul Millar has recruited Brian McClean from Moyola Park, Gareth Larmour from Knockbreda and Ricky Higgins from Harland and Wolff Welders.

With the loss of Ryan Brown to Ballymena United, Ryan McLoughlin to H&W Welders, Damien McLaughlin, Liam Hogan and Anto Lagan, the Inver team will be hard-pressed to improve on last season’s eighth place finish.

Lagan and Hogan, incidentally, will be playing their football in the amber and black of Carrick Rangers when the new season kicks off on August 7, while manager Paul Millar expects that McLaughlin could be featuring with Larne Tech Old Boys,

Speculation was that Hogan would be getting on board the Donegal Celtic train, although that plan may have been scuppered by the subsequent change of manager at Suffolk Road, as the interest had originally been expressed by Packie McAllister before he resigned and was replaced by Marty Tabb.

And the indication from the Inver Park management was that Lagan could have been dropping down to a lower grade by joining forces with Knockbreda.

“Damien has work commitments which mean he works evenings and he thus has trouble fulfilling training schedules and he told me that there would be times when he would only have to turn up on Saturdays for games,” said Millar, who is pleased with his new signings.

“Brian McClean was down on Monday night for our first pre-season training session and I’m delighted to get the centre midfielder because he was still under contract to Moyola until August of next year.

“Gareth Larmour is another player I expect will do very well with us. He’s a left back and I definitely needed somebody who could play anywhere down the left side. Ricky Higgins, who previously played with Ballyclare Comrades and had been with Linfield in his younger days, is very versatile in that he’s equally adept up front, wide right or in the centre of midfield.

“Another welcome arrival is Norman Kelly, the former international player, who has joined us as first team coach to replace Jeff Russell, who quit at the end of last season to concentrate on his work and domestic commitments. I want to thank Jeff for his hard work with Larne FC. I have known him for more than 20 years and he was a great fellow to work with over the last year-and-a-half.

“Norman worked with me when I was manager of Bangor and last season he was coaching with Lisburn Distillery, so I’ll enjoying having him at Inver Park,” added Millar.