Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HE’S ORAN GEARNEY
Coleraine revving up for race to the finish
COLERAINE manager Oran Kearney believes the best is yet to come as his team chase down the Premiership title.
The Bannsiders crashed to their first defeat in 18 games when edged out 2-1 by Cliftonville at the weekend – a result that left them 10 points adrift of table-topping Linfield, although David Healy’s side have played two games more.
With Larne due to visit the Showgrounds tonight, Kearney insists his boys still have a ‘few gears to go through’ as the title race enters the final stretch.
“The unbeaten run was talked about more outside of our dressing room than in it,” said the former St Mirren manager.
“Yes, it was a great run. The players have given it a real good blast since the start of December to put ourselves into the position we are in.
“Now we are in that position, I don’t want to let go of it. We certainly have a few more gears to go through.
“We want to grab what’s ahead of us and try to make it as difficult as possible for the teams in and around us in the table by winning games. We’ve still to play Larne twice, Linfield twice and Glentoran three times. There are so many big, big games left.
“We’ve got to make sure we get right back at it again against Larne.”
Coleraine will be without talismanic striker Eoin ‘Skinner’ Bradley, who was sent off at Solitude.
Kearney added: “We will be missing Skinner.
“I thought he was a bit hard done by in terms of his second booking, it was basically a coming together of two players.
“We had a couple of decisions that went against us on the day.” Glentoran will be without big-money January signing Conor Mcmenamin (inset) for the trip across town to Cliftonville – the winger’s former club.
Mcmenamin is out for the ‘foreseeable future’ after damaging a toe in the recent win over Warrenpoint Town.
“It’s a blow,” said Glentoran boss Mick Mcdermott. “Conor is to see a specialist and will be out for multiple weeks. But we have a big squad and that will be utilised in the coming weeks.
“We face another tough game against a Cliftonville side that is well-managed and well-coached. But we’ll go their with confidence following our victory over Crusaders at the weekend.”
David Jeffrey’s Ballymena United will look to stretch their impressive unbeaten run to 10 games when the entertain struggling Carrick Rangers.
The Sky Blues are coming off a thumping 5-1 win over Dungannon Swifts at the weekend.
“I thought we were breathtaking at times, but we know how tough things will be against Carrick, a team always difficult to play against,” said Jeffrey.