Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree says his side will need to be even better in the second half of the Irish Premiership season if they are to have any chance of holding onto the top-six position they currently occupy in the league.

The Stangmore Park club, who travel to Ballymena on Saturday, sit in a lofty third spot in the table after their first 19 matches of the campaign thanks to nine wins and three draws.

The league splits into a top six and bottom six for the final five series of games after all clubs have fulfilled 33 fixtures.

"It's going to be a huge ask even from the position we are sitting in," said McAree of retaining a place in the upper half of the table.

"We understand how hard we've had to work and what we've had to put into all those games to try and get results out of them so we know we'll probably have to work even harder now in the second half of the season as if clubs have underestimated us they're certainly not going to underestimate us from now on.

"So we're going to have to do better again, keep improving, keep getting better, play better and compete better if we're going to continue it on."

The Swifts boss has commended his players for maintaining their form through the first four months of the term.

"You thought after a few matches you were sitting in a good position, you wonder can you keep it going, and again after 10 games, and we've probably kept it going now for 19 games which is huge credit to the players.

"The one thing I asked them to do at the start of the season was to compete in every game and that was probably my sole focus when I came back to the club."