It wasn’t the usual blood and thunder Belfast derby because the Blues boss made 10 changes to the team that defeated Limavady United at the weekend
Declan Devine’s Glentoran booked their place in round two of the ToalsBet Senior Shield following a 3-1 victory over a youthful Linfield side at the BetMcLean Oval.
It was striker Jordan Jenkins, who was the tormentor in chief, bagging a delicious double within the first six minutes! Substitute Carl Weatherup put the icing on the cake late on with a third.
But it wasn’t the usual blood and thunder Belfast derby because Blues boss David Healy made 10 changes to the team that defeated Limavady United at the weekend, using mostly Under-20 personnel.
They did, however, produce a gutsy showing that heralded a fine strike by Charlie Chapman in the second half.
“We selected a team based on trusting what we have in and around the U20s and in and around the squad. Part of their learning and part of their journey is to come to places like this when you are up against it,” said Healy.
“Glentoran picked a pretty strong team. We got off to the worst start but credit to the players, after 10 or 15 minutes we realised we could cope, we could play.
“We got ourselves back into the game. More positives than negatives. Our most important game is going to be Saturday (Carrick Rangers).”
Most of the talk around the old stadium centred on Glentoran’s new signing Conor McMenamin, who was yesterday snapped up from Coleraine, with Joe Thomson going in the opposite direction.
The former St Mirren man, however, wasn’t involved. No doubt, there are good days up ahead to come form the Northern Ireland international.
Instead, it was Jenkins who had the home fans eating out of his hand.
He required only two minutes to open his goal account for the season.
James Douglas was given time and space on the edge of the box to lay the ball off the the striker and his vicious low drive arrowed into the bottom corner, giving goalkeeper Aidan Glavin no chance.
The home fans were on their feet again four minutes later.
This time, Ryan Cooney drilled in a trademark free kick from the right that was cleverly headed back into the box by Daniel Larmour and Jenkins scored with the flick of his head.
The youthful Linfield side were caught cold.
In fact, the could have been three goals down after only nine minutes only for a miraculous double save from Glavin.
First, he kept out a Jenkins header and when the ball broke to John Daniels, his header was also kept out.
Linfield showed little up front in terms of attacking possibilities. Their only foray forward came on 20 minutes when Dylan Wells showed great feet on the left before looping over a cross that ended in the roof of the netting.
But it was the Glens who almost extended their advantage just after the half-hour. Cooney was again the provider only for Josh Kelly’s wicked low drive to force Glavin into a fantastic low save.
The Blues were almost back in it four three minutes after the interval.
Wells was right out of luck with a 25-yard free kick that had goalkeeper Billy Crellin beaten all ends up only for the ball to strike the outside of the post.
But the visitors were back in it on 56 minutes.
Chapman showed strength and hunger in the box and, when he tried his luck with a low drive, it deflected off the boot of Ethan Brown before nestling in the bottom corner.
Sean Brown then tried his luck with an audacious 30-yard effort, that flashed over.
But it was the Glens who almost increased their lead on 63 minutes. Daniel found Cooney, whose curling effort had Glavin at full stretch, the big shot stopper managing to flick over the top.
They did get a third 14 minutes from time. Cooney’s long throw fell to Weatherup and he cleverly flicked the ball past Glavin.
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