Coleraine are drawing on last year’s hurt: McCauley

THERE is one phrase doing the rounds in Coleraine that clearly sums up their approach to the Tennent’s Irish Cup this season — unfinished business.

Last season’s fairytale end to the campaign turned into a nightmare for the Bannsiders after their Irish Cup final mauling by Linfield, but it is the other half of the Big Two, Glentoran, who will be hoping to add more knock-out misery this evening.

Buoyed by their derby dismissal of Ballymena United on Saturday that enabled them to close within two points of Crusaders at the top of the Danske Bank Premiership table, they go into tonight’s game in high spirits but against a very different Glens side that was drawn out to play them a few weeks ago.

Gary Haveron has departed and under interim manager Ronnie McFall they have become very difficult to beat.

Coleraine striker Darren McCauley said: “Ronnie McFall has come and given Glentoran a bit of impetus. But we have unfinished business in it, we didn’t perform in the final last year and it has always left a bad taste in my mouth.

“It was probably one of the worst days of my life in football. I didn’t care about the occasion or the suits, all I care about is winning the Irish Cup and Glentoran are in our way and that’s up next.

“They have quality in Curtis Allen and he is always a goal threat, and if we perform as professionally as we did on Saturday we’ll be okay.”

That will certainly be the mantra his boss Oran Kearney will be hammering home as he prepares to get the better of wily old fox McFall.

“It’s a big game for us. Yes, Glentoran have their own agenda and Ronnie McFall and all that goes with that. We’ve spoken about that in our changing room, that as a club and a group we have unfinished business with the Irish Cup,” he said.

“It whet our appetite last year, it gave people a taste of the experience of the day. The outcome of the day wasn’t good but I still stand by the fact that it was a huge catalyst for us in our success going forward.

“But we want to get back there and want to go a stage further and Glentoran are the next obstacle in the way of that, and we all say it was painful that day but I want to see that hurt on Tuesday night.”