It’s certainly not hard to see why everybody loves Kearney
“I DON’T know anybody who will say anything different about him than I do,” said beaming Coleraine chairman Colin McKendry in closing.
Sourcing a range of views on Oran Kearney’s unquestionably successful management style immediately uncovers one universal aspect: everybody loves Oran.
Handily, that’s just the beginning of the story, because affection alone cannot carry a man to 50 games unbeaten in national Northern Irish competition.
Since Linfield edged a tight Premiership encounter 2-1 at Windsor Park on November 18, 2017, Kearney has yet to suffer a reverse in the league, the League Cup or the Irish Cup. Won 34, drew 16, lost zero. Goal difference +80. Scored 117, conceded 37.
It’s little wonder that his Coleraine side are top of the league after having already beaten the two pre-season favourites Linfield and Crusaders twice. Each.
“It doesn’t just happen overnight,” says Oran’s wife Lauren. “He works really, really hard. He puts in a lot of hours.”
If anyone can vouch for that it’s the former Linfield star himself, who was part of the Belfast club’s clean sweep team in 2006 and retired due to injury just three years later.
On the advice of Lauren’s father, and current Northern Ireland women’s manager, Kenny Shiels, Oran had completed his Uefa A License aged only 21.
“He’s a very, very well organised young man that has the ability to see things very early,” said McKendry.
The pair go back to February 2011, when McKendry made the big push to bring Oran in from Limavady United.
Just a week after hanging up his boots, Kearney had been appointed by the Championship club, targeting a fifth-place finish with a team that had just come in 13th in the second tier.
Fast forward 12 months and United had actually come in third, missing out on a promotion play-off by only two points.
“He took advice from a lot of other managers on the direction to go,” continued McKendry. “He could bring older Irish League players to Limavady or he could take the bold step to run with young lads.
“He made that decision early to go with the young players and that’s carried with him at Coleraine. It was one of the first things he said to me and it has always stuck in my mind. It was a courageous thing to do.”
Among them was a midfielder by the name of Stephen Lowry ( below). He had been let go by Ballymena, sent back to his local team.
Within eight months, Kearney had helped fire him back to the Premier League, earning a move to Coleraine, where the boss would join him little over a year
later.
“Oran turned my career around,” Lowry conceded. “He’s just got that personality that you trust. He’s helped me a lot. He’s always given me the right advice for me, even if it’s not right for him or for Coleraine.
“That means that when I’m playing for him, I want to do well for him. I want to repay him.
“He was a big factor in me coming back to Coleraine last year as well. If it wasn’t for him, I probably would have stayed at Linfield. You want to play for him and be around him.”
When Kearney did arrive on Lowry’s heels at the Showgrounds, he didn’t have it all his own way.
The tough spells included a run of nine straight league defeats spanning the festive period in 2013 and a spell of only three wins in 14 Premiership games near the end of the 2015-16 campaign.
“He might answer differently but I think those times made him stronger,” said wife Lauren. “He’s always been a very positive person though. It was probably harder for his family.”
Pressure was mounting, but not with the one man who mattered.
“I had total belief and confidence in his ability,” said chairman McKendry. “Was he under pressure? Yes, he was, absolutely, because he put himself under that as much as the club did. The board certainly were pushing to look at alternatives, but I had been at nearly every training session and I could see what was coming through the academy as well. I could see that he was testing the water with these young guys and that his structure was in place.
“It just needed that time to take shape. That’s what I kept telling everybody.”
All of that was part of the inner drive that Kearney had brought to Coleraine. It would emerge in a post-match interview at Carrick Rangers on September 10, 2016.
His side had just beaten their hosts to stay within three points of leaders Crusaders with seven games played.
“His determination I could only compare to Bertie Peacock,” said McKendry, remembering the legend who remains the only manager to bring the title to Coleraine.
“When Bertie won the league in 1974, it wasn’t by chance. That had to be built.
“Oran has that determination as well. I have no doubt that he