Glenavon and Coleraine ready to go again for Cup glory

Coleraine head to Mourneview Park to play their fourth game in 14 days with their squad already stretched through injury.

Kearney was forced to shuffle his pack on New Year’s Day, and was delighted to see his side come away with a 2-0 win at Carrick Rangers.

“I knew coming into the game (it would be tough) with the aches and pains that we had and how we had to flip the squad with suspensions and everything that goes with it,” he said.

“We are down to the bare bones with only five on the bench, one of them being young Lewis Nevin at 16-years-old.

“It would have been nice to have been heading into this game with a normal week.

“I can accept the schedule over Christmas but the way they have planted this game at the end of it is tough but it is the same for everybody and we will just have to get on with it.

“It is huge for everybody and with that it makes it a massively important game.”

Glenavon boss Gary Hamilton also admitted it was not the draw he was hoping for when the Lurgan Blues were paired with a fellow Premiership club.

“It’s a massive game for us and one of the hardest we could have got in the fifth round but we have to take it on and do the best we can to make it past Coleraine and into the next round,” he said.

“At this stage of the competition, you’re usually looking for a home draw – which we got – against a team from a lower division, but we certainly didn’t get that.

“It was always going to be tough and we’d hoped we were seeing some light at the end of the tunnel with all the injuries we’ve had, but then we lost James Singleton to a groin injury against Cliftonville on New Year’s Day and Stephen Murray had to come off as well.

“That’s been the story of our season where it’s been one player after another who’s been out. At one stage, all four of our centre-halves were injured and you’re having to ask people to fill in and do a job and we were trying to just patch things up from one game to the next.

“Seamus Sharkey has been out since the last time we played Cliftonville and he’s come in and had to play two games in a few days which isn’t ideal, then on top of that we lose Singy to a groin.

“When we’ve had bodies back over the last few weeks, we’ve looked more like ourselves and had some better results. We’ve not been taking the chances that have been created but you could see the improvement in our performances and that’s what we’ll be looking to continue against Coleraine.”