Stephen McDonnell hoping to have Glenavon's club captain available 'very soon' after long injury absence

The 32-year-old hasn’t played since the Lurgan Blues’ 1-0 home defeat to Larne in December 2022 after picking up a serious knee injury and had been due to feature for the reserve side in Monday’s U20 Premiership clash against Newry City at Mourneview Park, but that fixture was postponed.

Haughey won four league titles and two Irish Cup crowns during an eight-year stint at Linfield before returning to Glenavon, the club he started his Irish League career with, in 2021.

Having also made 11 appearances in European competitions, Haughey’s return will add further experience to a side that have enjoyed a revival of form under McDonnell.

They travel to Carrick Rangers on Saturday before hosting Mid-Ulster rivals Portadown in a BetMcLean Cup semi-final three days later and have also set up an Irish Cup sixth round clash against Larne following their weekend win over Knockbreda.

"It's going to be tough but we'll be hoping for a similar outcome to last time in going there to get the points,” McDonnell told the club’s media channel ahead of this weekend’s trip. “We're wanting to compete at the top end of the table if we can and getting there is an ambition we all share.

"We're in a pretty good place going forward. We hope to get Mark integrated into the matchday squad very soon."

McDonnell deployed Isaac Baird as a centre-back in their routine 4-0 success over the Championship’s bottom side, where January recruits James Doona and Darren Clarke both scored on debut.

Fellow new boys Mark Byrne and David Toure also started while this weekend could see goalkeeper Gareth Deane make his maiden club appearance after joining from Coleraine in a swap deal that resulted in Rory Brown going in the opposite direction.

Robbie Garrett returned to the fold in Saturday’s win after serving a three-match suspension for his red card picked up against Linfield and McDonnell is expecting some selection headaches in the coming weeks.

"Ribsy got 60 and it's all about managing bodies,” he added. “It's good to get Ribsy back in because he certainly does make us tick in terms of build-up and we've had a look at a little role change for Isaac.

"He played 15 minutes away to Coleraine in that position and we wanted to see that for a longer duration. From day one we've been stretched from a squad standpoint so have had to move players here, there and everywhere, so the more we know about players and more we can stretch them means we have greater options moving forward.

"We've a decent squad now with 21 or 22 players and no long-term injuries so we're going to have a headache as a management team moving forward. I've always said that the comfort zone isn't where we want the squad to be - we want healthy competition and I feel we have that now."