Daire O'Connor determined to cap off best season of his career by securing European football for Glentoran

​Winning the competition would book the Glens’ spot in the second round of Europa Conference League qualifying for next season and save any potential stress of having to secure it through the Premiership play-offs.

The East Belfast outfit faced Maltese club Gzira United last summer, losing out in a dramatic 14-13 second-leg penalty shootout, and making it back to that stage would be financially lucrative for Glentoran as they look to challenge for a first league crown since 2009.

That European tie earlier in the campaign marked O’Connor’s first appearance for the club having joined from Ayr United a matter of weeks earlier and he netted in the away leg where Warren Feeney’s men drew 2-2.

Having also got a taste for the big occasion with UCD and Cork City, the 26-year-old is hopeful that Glentoran can make the most of their opportunity, starting with what O’Connor dubs the “biggest game of the season”.

"Everybody knows there's a good bit of money involved with European football and it's also a great experience for the fans,” he said. “We got to bring them to Malta last year and unfortunately we didn't get through to the next round after losing on penalties.

"I've been involved in it before with Cork and UCD...I've been to Slovakia, Luxembourg, Malta - it's great for ourselves and for our friends and family to go and see different places.

"It's definitely an aim for us.

"That's the goal and anything other than that is probably failure for us.

"I spent two years in Scotland and was thinking that the best case scenario was getting promoted to the Premiership and then you're fighting relegation, whereas you come back here and the standard is very similar, only you can challenge for leagues and get into Europe.

"I can have these experiences that my mates over in England and Scotland can't.

"They are slogging it out in the league and might get a cup run now and again, but the beauty of this league and down south is that you have those aims to play in Europe.

"I think the next step is for an Irish League team to get into the group stages because they've came close.

"That's a dream that's a bit away for us yet but that has to be the ambition of teams in this league."

O’Connor is enjoying the best season of his career with Saturday’s brace against Ballymena United bringing him to 14 goals while the ex-Cliftonville winger has also provided 15 assists.

"I think it's down to a bit of consistency,” he added. “I've been playing every week and as an attacker you need that momentum, getting confidence up and building partnerships with lads around you.

"Niall (McGinn) has set up quite a few of my goals and they are all the same.

"None of my goals have been overly pretty bar one against Newry but I'll take the tap ins all day."