Matthew Shevlin credits Oran Kearney for keeping things 'simple' as he nets 50th Coleraine goal

The scoreline will somewhat flatter the visitors who were made to work hard for the victory which ensured they are now unbeaten in their last 14 games in all competitions.

Just when the teams looked like going in level, Coleraine struck in first-half stoppage time as Shevlin latched onto Andy Scott’s through ball to blast under the body of Declan Dunne.

Despite the Swifts having a lot of the ball, they failed to overly trouble Gareth Deane and the match was over as a contest on 81 minutes as Eamon Fyfe netted from close range, before Shevlin brought up a half century of goals as he finished with aplomb from Josh Carson’s cut back a minute from time.

“I’m happy with that return of 50 goals in 95 appearances and long may it continue,” Shevlin said.

“The last two seasons I’ve been scoring consistently and a goal every two games is something that I want to keep going.

“I went through a few years of my career where I didn’t play as regularly or often as I wanted to.

“Oran gave me the chance to come to Coleraine and I snatched his hand off for it.

“He’s a very good man-manager and coach but his best attribute is that he just keeps it simple for me.

“He keeps saying to keep doing what you’re doing but if there’s something that I can improve on, he will give me tips on how to do that.”

Kearney pounced to bring Shevlin to The Showgrounds from Linfield in January 2020 and stated that the striker gets into goalscoring opportunities through his hard work.

“He is in great form and rarely out of it which is a great credit to him,” he continued.

“We say it to him week in and week out, when you work as hard as Matthew works on the pitch, you earn those chances to score as his work rate is second to none.

“When he gets those opportunities, he is getting better and better at putting them in the back of the net.”

The victory means the Bannsiders remain firmly in the hunt for the Gibson Cup but Kearney stressed they are simply taking each game as it comes.

“People talk about ‘x, y, and z and unbeaten runs’ and everything that goes with it, but there’s nothing to talk about unless you pick up three points,” he added.

“All we can control is what happens on the pitch and trying to earn three points which we have thankfully done.

“We are pleased with a good result away from home and another clean sheet.

“I wouldn’t say we were at our free-flowing best, but more importantly, we showed a really good level of patience."

DUNGANNON SWIFTS: Dunne, Marron, Knowles, McCready (Mayse ’62 mins), Campbell, McGinty, Walsh (Moore ’73 mins), Ruddy (O’Kane ’73 mins), McGee, Animasahun, Bruna (Lynch ’82 mins).

Subs Not Used: Nelson (GK), Francis, Scott.

COLERAINE: Deane, Kane, D. Jarvis, Brown, McCrudden (Fyfe ’76 mins), Carson (C. McLaughlin ’90 mins), O’Donnell, Lynch, McDermott (A. Jarvis ’19 mins), Shevlin, Scott (Carlin ’90 mins).

Subs Not Used: Gallagher (GK), Mullan, Farren.

Referee: Ben McMaster