KEARNEY: I’M GOING NOWHERE

ORAN KEARNEY last night insisted he was fully committed to St Mirren.

The Northern Irishman had been linked with a return back home to take charge of Coleraine for a second stint after they sacked manager Rodney McAree last Friday.

Saints threw themselves a lifeline in their bid to beat the play-off after defeating 10-man Hamilton 2-0 at the Simple Digital Arena.

The Buddies now travel to Dundee on Saturday and boss Kearney vowed he is here for the long haul.

He said: “I think that is the bandit that is social media. My head’s been 110 per cent on preparing for this game and again it will be exactly the same in preparing for Saturday’s game.

“I’m here, I’m loving it. I’m hearing things, like families this and families that.

“From the word go I have made it known my family are in Northern Ireland and I am here and I find a way to work with that. Coleraine is a club very close to my heart, of course, because I wouldn’t be sitting here now if it wasn’t for Coleraine.

“In the same stretch I am here to do a job and I am very happy and I hope the club are happy with me. This was a huge result.

“The crowd were top notch and stayed with us and that was important as they were like a 12th man.

“Our job at the start of the week was two wins and we have achieved the first part of that.”

Hamilton boss Brian Rice claimed Alex Gogic’s red card changed the match.

He said: “The sending off changes the game, simple as that. It was a stupid sending off on our part. It doesn’t matter what managers think, the referee makes a decision and you get on with it.

“I said in the dressing room don’t feel sorry for yourselves. We know what we need to do on Saturday.”