John McGovern: Newry showed we belong

McGovern’s quickfire brace at Mourneview Park set Newry off to a flyer as they produced a five-star showing to record their first win since returning to the Premiership.

McGovern admitted some had people had maybe been questioning their top flight credentials with three defeats in their opening three games.

But the forward says the victory over the Lurgan Blues shows they belong here.

“We were due a big performance after the first three games,” he told BBC Sport.

“We had battled hard but results just didn’t go our way.

“Tonight just goes to show that we’re working hard and the score line shows how we can play.

“It’s a massive lift for the club. Everyone was writing us off after those first three games saying “Newry are gone”.

“But when you come out and put in a performance like that it just goes to show we should be in the Premiership and this is where we belong.

“Hopefully we can put out more messages like that down the line.”

The win not only saw Newry pick up their first points of the season but it also registered McGovern’s first goal in the Premiership.

“Getting off the mark is unbelievable,” he said.

“That was only my fourth Premiership game and I’ve scored my first two goals at this level. Hopefully I can kick on from here.”

Boss Darren Mullen was delighted to see his side execute their game plan and pick up the win ahead of today’s visit to league leaders Glentoran.

“We knew we had the pace to trouble Glenavon, which we’ve had in other games,” he said.

“We were getting ourselves into positions but we weren’t just taking our chances.

“John started off super and took his goals really well, and that got us off to a good start as well.”