Mckeown’s positive attitude a joy for Jeffrey to work with
DAVID Jeffrey is confident that Ballymena United have unearthed a ‘nugget’ in Owen Mckeown.
The former Crumlin United player has been exceptional in the Sky Blues’ last two games, coming in for the ineligible Trai Hume against Linfield and keeping his place for Saturday’s thumping of Dungannon Swifts.
After an injury-hit start to his career at Warden Street, Mckeown’s all-action style has won him a starting place and he could well feature again tonight as United look to extend their unbeaten run to 10 Danske Bank Premiership games against visiting Carrick Rangers.
“Crumlin United were very, very good in coming help us prepare for the Irish Cup and that particular night there was this little lad racing up and down, and we made some enquiries and background checks,” explained Jeffrey.
“He had actually played at Glentoran and Glenavon in his younger days and then had gone to Gaelic and then found himself back in love with football playing with Crumlin.
“We invited him, with Crumlin’s permission, to come up and join us for pre-season and he really impressed, so we signed him, ostensibly to play wide although he can play in the middle of the park but he can also play at fullback.
“He has had a really frustrating time of late with a couple of injuries and he has had to be patient because the team was on a good run and he was having to work hard even to get into the 18.
“On Tuesday night, I had a lovely conversation with him and asked him what did he think as we were thinking of playing him at right-back. He said ‘David, I’ll play right-back, left-back, centre-back, anywhere just to get a game’, and I thought that attitude was absolutely first class.
“He played wide right, he went and played wide left for me and he played full-back for a period and his contribution was absolutely excellent, and he is one of those nuggets who every so often come to your attention and I’m very pleased with him, for him and very proud of him.”