ORAN PEACE
Taking Buddies job was a huge call but Kearney is braced for survival battle
HAD Oran Kearney been offered the St Mirren job at the first time of asking, things might have been simpler. For one thing the 40-year-old might not be having to shuttle back and forth to the family home in Northern Ireland to spend time with his wife and twin daughters.
And, for sure, he wouldn’t have had to resort to the carnage (his word) of a January transfer window in which he recruited 10 new players, seven of which are loanees.
Fortunately for the likeable Northern Irishman, there are signs of encouragement on both fronts.
The weekly commute may not be a long-term solution but the 40-year-old’s trips across the Irish Sea have taught him the valuable life lesson of putting his phone down and switching off from the day job.
On the park, too, there are signs that Kearney might just have stumbled upon a formula conducive to keeping the Paisley club in the Premiership. Last weekend’s win over Livingston was the club’s first of 2019 and followed two hard-earned draws against Aberdeen and Hearts.
Kearney was originally interviewed for the job last summer as part of the process that led to Alan Stubbs’ short-lived and calamitous reign but wasn’t appointed until September 7 — a week after the summer transfer window had closed. Stubbs had overhauled the squad promoted under Jack Ross and already the team inherited by Kearney was showing itself as prime relegation contenders.
Mid-season additions like Duckens Nazon and Kyle McAllister may only be here until the end of the season but they have added verve at the top end of the pitch, while goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky and Mihai Popescu have been solid contributors at the back. ‘It would have been easier in the summer — you have a three-month window and there is a huge volume of players out of contract,’ says Kearney. ‘December and January was just a wipe-out of phone calls, emails and everything else.
‘It was a probably a world-record attempt but one I felt had to be undertaken. The evolution of the group has been exciting to watch but we couldn’t rush it.
‘With every week that has passed, I think you do see a huge acceptance of the new players from those already at the club. They see light at the end of the tunnel because of the quality these guys have brought to the club.’
Kearney had previously juggled his job teaching at the Cross and Passion College in Ballycastle with coaching a cup-winning Coleraine side that he was afforded time to knock into shape over an eightand-a-half-year tenure.
With survival paramount he has no such luxuries in Paisley yet, even after that initial rejection, he couldn’t resist turning his life upside down to move to the Premiership.
‘It was a huge decision,’ he reflects. ‘When I look back to that time it was probably as stressful a scenario as I have known.
‘The three big pillars in my life were my family, my job at the school where I worked for 16 years and my football job at Coleraine.
‘When one of those pillars shakes, the other two are generally in place. In the space of a week or five days, I had to shake all three pillars grossly.
‘The school part was easy enough because it’s a permanent post, so I’m on a career break and I had great backing from my principal. If needed, I have that safety net.
‘If I was seen to turn down this job, then I would probably never had another chance. I’d have regretted that for the rest of my life. I just had to go for it.
‘The whole process has been enlightening because my old life would have been as busy if not busier.
‘At times, I worried I didn’t see the kids and family enough. The one thing I’d hate down the line is for your kids to turn round and say that you weren’t there.
‘Now I’m home most weekends and sometimes through the week.’
With Saints locked in a three-way fight for survival with Hamilton Accies and Dundee, Kearney is up for the fight.
‘I can’t wait,’ he insists. ‘I had a brief experience of a relegation battle in the early part at Coleraine and it brings far more pressure than going for trophies.
‘It’s people’s livelihoods at the club — you don’t take that level of responsibility lightly. There will be enough nerves and negativity around so it’s important that me and the staff are upbeat, embrace the challenge and really go for it.’
If I turned this down, I’d never have another chance