Jenkins thrilled to extend stay at Showgrounds

The Scottish skipper put pen to paper on a one-year contract extension at the weekend, which will keep him at the Showgrounds until at least the summer of 2015.

“I had gone in to see Glenn, Doc and Norman a few weeks ago and to be honest, the deal itself was agreed in two minutes - the rest of the time we spent talking about football!” laughs fans’ favourite Jenkins.

“From my point of view, the only way I wasn’t going to be staying was if Glenn had said he didn’t want me to stay or if he had been looking to change things around a bit and maybe go in a different direction.

“When you get the wrong side of 30, you start to wonder if there will be a deal for you, so I’m delighted to be staying, especially when you see the likes of Gary Thompson, Tony Kane and Johnny Taylor are staying as well.

“I’ve enjoyed my football this season, I’ve been fortunate with injuries and I would like to think that my performances this season have merited a new deal.”

Jenkins was at his forceful best on Saturday as the Sky Blues scraped past 10-man Warrenpoint, to keep their double-pronged target of Irish Cup glory and a top six finish in the league intact.

“In my opinion it’s all about points rather than performances at this stage of the season.

“It would be lovely to go out and beat 10 men four or five but it doesn’t always pan out that way.

“The keeper definitely made contact with me for the penalty - mind you, it was on my left foot so there’s no guarantee it would have been a goal!

“But unfortunately it’s the letter of the law when a keeper commits a foul - we saw it ourselves with Stuart Addis earlier in the season at Portadown.

“One thing I said to the boys was that if Warrenpoint play like that in their two outstanding games against Glenavon, they could do us a favour and take some points off Glenavon.

“It’s great to be still chasing top six and in the Irish Cup as well - there have been seasons at Ballymena, even in my time, where we’ve been out of the running for both at this stage.

“After knocking out Linfield in the last round of the cup, I think the draw against Dungannon has been pretty favourable - you can’t really ask for much more than to be at home to a team you’ve beaten three times in the league.

“If we play the way we are capable of, we could be trying to go past Glentoran in the league with a cup semi-final already in our pocket - one thing can lead on to another and it’s great that we’re making progress,” added Jenkins.