'The market here is ridiculous': Irish League manager 'still looking to bring more in' ahead of new season

The Lurgan Blues chief has already moved to sign Brandon Doyle, Deaglan Healy, Ryan Waide, Ethan Devine and Alex Watson, who has joined on loan from Coleraine, as preparations ramp up for their Championship campaign getting underway against Ards on August 8. O’Connor also tied down several key players, including talisman Peter Campbell with the playmaker agreeing a new deal at Mourneview Park. There have been a number of departures with Paul McGovern, Jacob Carney and Barney McKeown amongst those to leave the club. Glenavon are preparing to play in Northern Ireland’s second tier for the first time in more than 20 years with O’Connor tasked to compile a squad capable of achieving immediate promotion back to the Premiership. Four of O’Connor’s new signings have previously featured in the top flight – Doyle won an Irish Cup at Crusaders and Devine a Premiership title with Linfield – and the search continues for further additions. However, former Northern Ireland midfielder O’Connor admits the current landscape in the Irish League’s transfer market makes business tough to conduct with sizeable financial demands. O’Connor’s efforts will go on throughout the summer with the 38-year-old clear creating competition for places in his squad is critical. "Every day we're trying to bring players in,” O’Connor told the club’s media channel. “We're still short a couple, we're still looking to bring more in. "It's important to have competition for places. "When I first came in last October there were a lot of injuries and players were getting a bit slack because they knew they were playing on a Saturday. "You need to have competition for places so if they're not on it then the player next to them is going to be in. "That's the plan, but the market here is ridiculous at the minute, players looking for a lot of money. "I'm hoping that will die down in the next week or so and we can get more in, but we're always on the lookout." Glenavon continued their pre-season preparations with a 4-2 win over JRC Football Academy on Saturday with Waide and Paddy Burns scoring braces.