Ballymena United striker Kenny Kane insists he sometimes has to pinch himself after making the breakthrough from lower league football to the Danske Bank Premiership.

The 22-year-old netted 67 times for Dervock during the 2018/19 season with his eye for goal catching the attention of the Sky Blues who brought him to the club in the summer of 2019.

Kane has since spent two-and-a-half-years on Warden Street and admits he is loving every minute despite some lows along the way.

“I was playing for Dervock in a cup tie and a Ballymena scout came up, gave me his card and said the club would be interested in speaking to me,” he outlined.

“Paul McAreavey invited me along to a training session and I liked it and they asked me back one night a week for around two or three months to get a feel for it.

“I signed a pre-contract and finished the season with Dervock and ended up with 67 goals.

“I’m not going to lie, I found it a little bit intimidating at the start as I didn’t know many people but that soon changed.

“The players, staff, Board and volunteers all made me feel welcome and anything I ever needed was not a problem to them.

“I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every minute of it even though there’s been a few frustrating times with knocks and niggles, as well as the pandemic.

“I just said to myself that I can’t let this moment pass and for every setback, I made sure to work and train hard and make the most of any opportunity that came my way.”

The Dervock native recently celebrated his first league goal for the Braidmen as his solitary strike beat league leaders Cliftonville at The Showgrounds in October.

He quickly followed that up by netting the winner in an away win against Glenavon just last month.

With United facing Dungannon Swifts this weekend, Kane knows that every point is crucial after narrowly missing out on an opportunity to qualify for Europe.

“David Jeffrey phoned me before the game against Cliftonville and said he was impressed by my attitude to training and was giving me a chance and I was to be ready,” he continued.

“Thankfully, we beat them 1-0 and I was able to score before doing the exact same against Glenavon two weeks later.

“We have to keep looking up and try and finish in the top six even though we realise that is going to be difficult as the league is littered with a lot of good teams and there are no easy games.

“We missed out on seventh spot last year by a single point so we know how important it is to pick up results and we will see where it takes us.

“Dungannon will be a tough match for us on Saturday as they are a good footballing team but we will just focus on ourselves.

“Our aim, as always, is to pick up three points and cut the gap on the teams above us as results can quickly change the layout of the table.”

Despite competing at the top level of football in the country, Kane doesn’t forget his roots as he was full of praise for ex-Irish League players in his development.

“I played youth football at Coleraine and then spent a couple of years at Bertie Peacocks,” he reflected.

“I was at Coleraine Under-15’s for a while but decided to move to Dervock and playing men’s football helped me develop as a player as I became stronger and faster.

“My team-mates and opponents included some ex-Irish League players along the way and that certainly helped me in my development.

“In the last ten years, there has been many examples of players making the step-up from junior football to Irish League such as James McLaughlin, Eoin Bradley, Lee Bonis, amongst others so the quality is there.”