Declan Devine Labels Glentoran’s Performance “Unacceptable”

Glentoran manager Declan Devine described his team’s display as “unacceptable” following their 2-0 loss to Portadown at the Oval. Portadown secured the victory with late goals from Shay McCartan and Ryan Mayse, a result that saw Glentoran fall from third to seventh position in the Irish Premiership table. Speaking to BBC Sport NI after the match, Devine stated, “There’s no shying away from it. It was a poor performance from us.” He further expressed his disappointment, saying, “I was really disappointed with us on the ball today. I didn’t think we were free flowing at all.” Devine added, “We’ve had a bad day but individually and collectively it wasn’t there today, and that’s the most disappointing things for me apart from the result.” Shay McCartan opened the scoring for Portadown from the penalty spot with eight minutes remaining. Ryan Mayse then sealed Portadown’s first win at the Oval in 11 years with the game’s final kick. Although Devine acknowledged his belief that the penalty decision was incorrect, he maintained that it was not the primary cause of the defeat. He commented on the team’s second-half performance, stating, “I didn’t think we could get much worse in the second half to be honest because the first half performance was unacceptable.” Regarding the penalty, Devine remarked, “I don’t think it’s a penalty but I’m not going to stand here and blame the referee for us losing the game because we were more than responsible ourselves for losing the game.” He concluded by emphasizing the need for improvement: “The inconsistency is something that has to be addressed and we can’t have that level of performance. It’s unacceptable.”