IRISH LEAGUE: Carrick boss walks the walk so players can talk the talk

Callaghan and his coaching team left the changing rooms as a sign of the growing confidence by the manager in his group.

Carrick gained another point in the battle to move out of the Danske Bank Premiership relegation zone with a scoreless draw against Glenavon.

That return to the push for points arrived the week on from Carrick’s League Cup final defeat to Ballymena United.

Callaghan considers the positive response to that final disappointment and the progress made by his reshaped squad as encouraging signs moving forward.

“There has definitely been an attitude shift over the time I have been in as manager,” said Callaghan. “The decision to leave the pre-match teamtalk to the players was made as a sign of trust.

“We want players thinking for themselves and understanding our overall objectives.

“I was so proud of the performance put in during the final.

“It was great to see how they took the positives out of the display, set aside the result and used that encouraging performance as motivation to working hard this week.

“We had to make three changes on the morning of the match, which we could not have coped with as well before the January window.

“We must now continue to push on over the rest of the season but the Glenavon game was probably a fair result and provided our second successive clean sheet in the league.”