Teen sensation and return of Jordan a boost for Phil

young players like Elliott Wilson and Stuart Hanna have come in from the Seconds and they are gaining confidence, you can see it.

“I’ve heard a lot of negativity from outside the club about players that we lost over the summer and people said we weren’t going to do anything this season but the amount of injuries to our top players was unreal.

“If you take four top players out of any team, even if you put it in the context of the top teams across the water, then any team is going to struggle. But, hopefully, we have turned the corner.

“It seems to all be coming together and I feel there’s more to come when we get the likes of Dougherty and Whitehead back.”

Despite their struggles, Mcdonagh admits he’s been proud of how his players have shown some steel in times of adversity, with their two back-to-back wins in the league recently coming from losing positions. “I put it to the players at half-time against St Pat’s and the character we showed to come out the second half and win the game 3-2 was brilliant,” said the ex-dromara Village chief.

“And on Saturday we found ourselves 1-0 down early on but we came back into it and it was as good a performance second half as I’ve seen this season.

“We were outstanding. To beat a team like Newcastle, who are a good side, five was very, very pleasing, and particularly because of the workrate we showed. Even at 5-1 they were putting their bodies on the line.

“I always knew we had it in us but it’s only two games, we need to push on from this now.”

On the performance of new boy Smith, whose treble eclipsed the brace netted by Craig Mccracken, Mcdonagh added: “We’ve had him in over the last two weeks and he’s pure quality. You could see the difference he made to the team.”