Dungannon Swifts boss Dean Shiels insists he had no intention of selling Oisin Smyth until Oxford United shocked him with an offer three days before the January window shut.
Smyth made a Deadline Day move to the League One club for an undisclosed fee despite being the subject of sustained interest from Big Two giants Glentoran.
Shiels has confirmed he had no plans of selling to another Irish League club but knew the Northern Ireland U21 midfielder would be leaving for pastures new when Oxford came in with a straight bid.
“The first we knew about Oxford was on the Friday evening,” he said. “It was a straight bid and there was no discussion about the price we wanted.
“Normally teams would feel you out regarding a player’s availability or a player’s price, but it was straight in with a bid which sort of put me on the back foot.
“I knew from the moment the bid came in that Oisin was going to go to Oxford. From a player's perspective he was always going to want to go there and I totally understand that.
“It's a league One club in England, it's an opportunity for the lad and I was never going to stand in the way of that opportunity.”
While Glentoran were keen on snapping up Smyth, Shiels had no plans to sell his captain to another Danske Bank Premiership club.
“There was interest from Glentoran throughout the window, it was constant and they were very keen to get him,” he said.
“But at that stage, we were still deep in a relegation battle, which we still are, so losing our captain to another Irish League club wasn't really on our agenda.
“We had no intention of selling Oisin and it wasn’t until the Oxford bid came in that we thought 'right, we're definitely going to lose him here’.”
Smyth, who made his Dungannon debut as a teenager, played his last game for the County Tyrone club in a crucial 3-2 win over Carrick Rangers on January 29.
That win eased the Swifts up to ninth in the table, two points above Carrick and 12 points clear of the relegation dropzone with 13 games left.
“Oisin played against Carrick and was superb,” said Shiels. “I'm sure the player was aware of the interest, but nothing was spoken about until after the game.
“Oisin and I went for a walk around Stangmore Park on Saturday night and we had a good chat. He gave me his thoughts on it and I gave him mine.
“Thankfully for Oisin it happened. I also lost my vice captain (Keith Cowan to Drogheda United) in January and it leaves a big hole in our team.
“But other players will have to respond and take more responsibility now. I’ve seen it before. When a player leaves, people naturally take more responsibility.
“If there’s a void there, it has to be filled.”
Dungannon progressed to the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup on Saturday thanks to a 4-1 win over Annagh United at Stangmore Park.
Shiels’ men, who are drawn away to Crusaders in the last-eight, have won six of their last seven games in all competitions, taking 12 points from their last five league outings.
As a result the Dungannon boss has been named Aktivora manager of the month for January.
