Kevin Deery set to hand Brendan Barr Institute debut in Loughgall cup tie

Former Derry City and Finn Harps midfielder, Barr, became Deery's second signing of the January transfer window after leaving Ballymena United and joins Dungannon Swifts loanee Aidan Hegarty in the squad to face Dean Smith's Sports Direct Premiership side.

With Callum McKay also expected to arrive, the 'Stute boss has been busy ahead of what will be his team's first outing of 2025 following the original postponement of the tie and Saturday's Championship clash with Ards.

"We will get nothing easy with Loughgall, we know that," explained the Institute boss, "Over the last few years, the way they've built up their club to go up into the Premier Division and have a brilliant season, it's been impressive. This year, with the second season, they've found it more difficult but we see that with every team.

"You could look at ourselves. Last year we were jumping out of our skins and then we lost a few players which takes it's toll on a club. Loughgall are the same, they are in exactly the same boat, albeit in a division above. However we just want to focus on ourselves, play really well in the game and give ourselves every chance of being in the next round."

With a sixth round tie against the winners of another rescheduled game being played on Tuesday - Dollingstown v Ballyclare - for whomever progresses, Deery believes any one of those four teams could realistically harbour hopes of a decent cup run.

"The motivation for both teams - and no disrespect to anyone - but the next tie is Dollingstown or Ballyclare. And those two teams will be looking at the next round in the same way, as a reasonable chance to progress further.

"You have to be sensible in this game. It's not as if the sixth round draw is away to Linfield or Larne. Whichever team comes through our tie, you have the opportunity to play Ballyclare or Dollingstown which would be another really tight game but one either side is capable of winning. So we have motivation there to try and come through this tie."

Confirming Barr would play some part in Tuesday’s tie, Deery said the midfielder could become a key player for Institute but warned he would need time to regain match fitness.

"With Ballymena bringing in quite a few players over recent times, it maybe hasn't gone the way Brendan wanted so, no, he has come in over the last few weeks and got a feel for us and there's a smile on his face again.

"That's what we try to encourage with the way we play and train, so Brendan has been enjoying his training. It's now just about getting minutes into him and getting him up to speed because he'll be able to help the young squad we have.

"When I was in at Derry City as assistant manager, Brendan was one of the young lads we had coming though. He obviously moved on to get first team experience and Brendan is now at the other end of that in terms of his experience. He's the one now who can help the young guys because he knows what it takes to play senior football. We've talked about that already but we can't expect too much of him straight away because he has only played a couple of U20 game in the last number of months so we have to manage his minutes to begin with.

"That said, I know the type of character he is, he will be itching and ready to play. We have a cup tie on Tuesday night and we intend to use him so let's see how that goes."