Ruaidhri Higgins says Coleraine are treating Friday night’s Charity Shield final like any other pre-season game as they prepare to face league champions Larne.

The two teams meet at Inver Park as the curtain is brought down on the new campaign, with profits from the contest going towards the Players Against Dementia charity.

The game is intended to help support charity efforts, as well as providing the two clubs with preparation ahead of their respective European exploits this month.

Despite some silverware being on the line between the two clubs, Higgins says they will use the contest to step up their fitness levels ahead of their Conference League second qualifying round tie against Helsinki.

placeholder image — Ruaidhri Higgins has provided his thoughts ahead of the Charity Shield final

"The game to me isn't important at all,” he stated.

"What's important is that the players get valuable minutes on the pitch.

"Our players have only played 45 minutes each so far in pre-season, whereas Larne, this will be their fifth, possibly sixth game.

"The importance of the game isn't as important as it's our second game in pre-season, that's how we're looking at it.

"We also have a pre-season game on Saturday (vs H&W Welders), so between both games we'll use our squad and that's the way I'm looking at it.

"It's nothing more, nothing less than that.”

The Irish Cup holders enjoyed a week of warm weather training in Portugal late last month and Higgins remarked how the occasion was great for everyone concerned.

He commented: “It was fantastic, it really was.

"I thank the club for delivering on it. The facilities were top class, the hotel was top class, the food, the pitch, the weather was nice.

“It was a really brilliant week...the new players got to build relationships, form friendships and come together, with the likes of (Jay) Henderson, (Conor) McMenamin and (Ben) Doherty getting into it very, very quickly.

"They're great lads anyway but I think it speeds up the process of settling in and it was invaluable in that sense and we got a lot of good work done, and physically we're in a much better place than what we were before we went out there.”

When asked if he plans to bring any further arrivals to The Showgrounds this summer, Higgins replied with how they might bring another two bodies through the door, particularly in defensive areas after the loss of one member of his squad and the uncertainty regarding the future of another.

“We didn't envisage Mark Connolly leaving the club, so that's automatically one that we need to replace,” he continued.

"If we possibly do one more that might be a loan and then we're still waiting to see on Charles Dunne as well, so there'll certainly be one coming in to replace Connolly, possibly a loan because we had two loans last year that were really successful and then we'll have to see Charles' situation now.

“But if Charles decides to stay then there will be one, maximum two coming in, and as I said, one of them will be a loan.”