My players stuck together after a difficult week, says Coleraine manager Oran Kearney as the Bannsiders earn first win against Glenavon since March 2020
Coleraine boss Oran Kearney praised his side's mentality after they recovered from a goal down to beat Glenavon at The Showgrounds.
A free-kick from Jack Malone gave the visitors the lead and they were punished for missing three glorious chances to double their advantage as Josh Carson equalised for the hosts with a free-kick of his own just before half-time.
The second-half would be a one-way street as Conor McKendry finally put Coleraine ahead and they confirmed all three points with late goals from Matthew Shevlin and McKendry yet again.
It marked the Bannsiders' first victory against Glenavon in over three years and the perfect reaction after suffering heavy defeats to Cliftonville and Crusaders.
“We’ve stood here and said it for years that I can have all the presentations and individual speeches and do everything you want, but there’s no better shot in the arm for players than performances, goals and winning matches," Kearney said.
“That’s the wonder of momentum as when things go in that shape of not going brilliantly, it generally compounds and you can get stuck in a rot quite quickly and I’ve been in scenarios like this before.
“We’re not out of the woods by any stretch, it’s three points and we will very quickly reset on Monday night to get back to work again.
"The biggest credit I can give the players is that with everything that was thrown against them in the last week, they stuck together and came out with a big response."
McKendry’s Man of the Match performance yielded two excellent solo goals, and Kearney wants to see more of the same from his star winger.
He added: “Credit to the players after the question mark whether or not Lee Lynch’s effort crossed the line, it didn’t stop us and we still had that mindset that the goal would come and it was a matter of time.
“Cometh the hour and cometh the man, and we still stand here regularly and speak about Conor.
“Are we shocked? No. Are we any way shape of form thinking he’s never done that done before? No.
“We see it all the time; I think the big thing is that we keep making these demands of Conor and that we want it more and more.”