Coleraine boss Ruaidhri Higgins believes 'real, real talent' has a bright future ahead of him
Ruaidhri Higgins admits he can no longer keep teenage prodigy Oliver Devlin a secret after he played a starring role in Coleraine’s 7-1 victory against Armagh City.
The midfielder scored once and set-up two goals as the Bannsiders were in clinical form against their Championship opponents.
Coleraine were four goals to the good at the break as Rowan McDonald, Devlin, Lewis McGregor and Declan McManus all found the back of the net.
They added three more after the break as McGregor and McManus completed their braces, either side of Devlin’s fine solo effort that led to Dermot McCaffrey scoring an own goal.
Armagh did have a late cheer when Conor Mullen rifled home a consolation goal in what was a difficult evening for Shea Campbell’s men at a foggy Showgrounds.
Londonderry-born Devlin recently signed professional forms on the Ballycastle Road alongside fellow youngsters Cead McGrath, Alex Watson and Tiernan Brolly who all played their part on Tuesday night.
"You can’t keep him a secret forever,” grinned Higgins when asked on Devlin’s performance and potential.
"He’s a real, real talent. I don’t know how you’d explain it...he’s just different.
"How he moves his body, his low centre of gravity, how he changes his direction. He’s got a real bright future ahead of him as long as he keeps developing and learning.
"The four young lads who were involved with us tonight train with us every day, so we know they are more than capable.
"The senior players help them along as we have a brilliant changing room.”
The fixture also marked a competitive debut for recent signing Lewis Webb who deputised between the posts, as well as midfielder Stephen Fallon who joined in the summer from Linfield.
On their first games, Higgins stated: “It was great to get Lewis out there. He’s shown great quality in training.
"We all know about Stevie...he’s had a horrible period and I’m sure there were some dark times during that period.
"But it’s great for him and we’ve worked extremely hard with him in the background and he’s got 60 minutes here which is great for him.
"Hopefully, his body is coming back to where we need it to be again, so fair play to him.”