QUINN WARY OF INSTITUTE

The Blues face the Drumahoe side in the last 16 of the competition having beaten Harland and Wolfe Welders 5-1 in the previous round whilst Institute triumphed over Ballymoney United after a replay.

Despite John Gregg’s men sitting 15 points below Glenavon in the Carling Premiership, Quinn is taking nothing for granted ahead of the tie and has challenged his side to ensure that it is the Blues that will be going into the hat for the quarter-final draw.

“I had Institute watched again on Saturday and it won’t be an easy game,” he began.

“They have a good team spirit in there and they work hard for each other. At the end of the day Glenavon will be favourites with the home advantage but we’re not going to underestimate them by any means. I’m hoping that we can get through the round and get a good draw in the quarter-finals. The plan is to go all the way and to do that, we have to beat Institute.”

The Blues go into the game having re-found their form with two successive victories over Coleraine and Institute, ending the run of 11 league games without a victory and Quinn says that the back-to-back wins have given his side a huge lift.

“It’s a massive confidence booster for us,” he told the ‘MAIL’

“If we had still been just dragging along the way we were in the last few months, we’d have been in trouble going into this match and confidence would have been low but with the past two performances and results confidence is now back to where we like it to be.

“We’ll go into the game in a confident frame of mind but with total respect for Institute because they’ll be there to do a job on us on the day.”

Quinn kept the same line-up for those two league victories and does he foresee the same team taking to the field again for Saturday’s Cup tie?

“There’s a good possibility of that,” he said.

“I thought that all of the players were excellent last Saturday and I can’t name anyone who didn’t play to standard.

“Rory Hamill may get into the 16. He played 90 minutes with the Reserves on Saturday. There’s a possibility for him to come in but it will be a nice problem for me to have.”

After their second Irish Cup match of the season, Glenavon will travel to the Ballymena Showgrounds to take on Roy Walker’s men in the Carling Premiership on Tuesday, February 16.

The game will be a real six-pointer with Ballymena nine points behind Glenavon but with a game in hand. If the Blues are to maintain their push for a top six spot before the split, this is surely a must-win game so Quinn is targeting the full three points at the ground where his side achieved a comfortable 3-0 victory earlier in the campaign.

“I’m not really looking that far ahead but we would target three points. We’ll look after this week’s games before we think about that,” he said before Glenavon’s Mid-Ulster Cup tie against Lurgan Celtic on Tuesday night.