Final journey with Hughes has Doran on ultimate high
IN the space of 14 months, the journey with John Hughes has taken Aaron Doran from the lowest moment of his career to the most ecstatic high. The Irish winger admits being dropped for last season’s League Cup Final represented a personal nadir. His dismay only deepened when he was unable to prevent Aberdeen from recording a penalty shoot-out victory after being introduced from the bench. On Saturday afternoon, however, Doran was front and centre as Inverness Caley Thistle banished that memory by landing the club’s first-ever major trophy. A persistent worry to Falkirk during a 78-minute shift, it was Doran’s delightfully weighted pass that enabled Marley Watkins to net the first-half opener against Falkirk. Reflecting on the vast difference in emotion between the two Finals, he said: ‘Last season we went back up the A9, three hours on a bus, having lost a final. ‘But this time, we could go up and celebrate and it’s just an unbelievable feeling to have won the Cup. ‘What an achievement for this club and, hopefully, we can keep doing this year in, year out. ‘Last season, I hadn’t been on the bench in about two years and the gaffer left me out for that one! ‘He’s left me out a couple of times this season, but to be part of the biggest game of the season shows that I’ve worked hard to get back in the team. ‘It’s probably good for me that he leaves me out every now and then because it makes me work harder. ‘Was being dropped last season my lowest moment? Yes, it really was. He called me on the Friday just before we travelled down. I didn’t want to train after that, I didn’t want to go out with the lads because I was quite down. ‘But they all got round me and said I had a part to play. ‘Unfortunately we didn’t get the win that day, but we’ve come back this season, got into Europe and now we’ve won the Scottish Cup so that makes up for it and it’s been brilliant.’ Doran credits Hughes with completely transforming the brand of football at Inverness, who had already banked a Europa League spot by finishing third in the Premiership. ‘He’s changed the whole style of the club,’ added Doran. ‘You could see before he came that we were a different style of team. ‘Now we just try to play as much football as we can. ‘The pitch was beautiful at Hampden and we showed in the first half that we can play nice, slick football. ‘We’ve shown it all season and, hopefully, we can keep doing it and do it again next season.’ For Doran, that means looking upwards once again. ‘We all said at the start of this season that we wanted to push Dundee United and Aberdeen for third and second spot,’ he said. ‘We’ve overtaken United this season and now our sights are on Aberdeen.’ Whether striker Edward Ofere will be around for that challenge remains to be seen as his contract is now up. The Nigerian international is keen to remain in the Highlands, even if the antics of Hughes occasionally leave him bewildered. Ofere was midway through a post-match interview on Saturday when his manager appeared from stage right and planted a playful — yet not entirely powerless — punch on his jaw. Asked if any other coach in his career had done that, Ofere replied: ‘Not really! He is a great manager because he gives momentum to the players. He has done so much to achieve this moment and so has the team. ‘I appreciate everything he has done for me. If everything goes well, I would love to stay.’