Coleraine set to be without star striker Matthew Shevlin for Cliftonville clash

​Shevlin was shown a straight red card in the first-half of their 3-1 derby loss to Ballymena United last weekend – which ended the Bannsiders’ three-game unbeaten run across competitions – for a challenge on Sky Blues goalkeeper Sean O’Neill.

The absence of last season’s joint-Golden Boot winner is a bitter blow for Kearney.

"If that's a red card and it's a reckless challenge, which some may argue it might be, Matthew gets all of the ball first but it's the movement of the goalkeeper towards him and him towards the goalkeeper,” he said. "The fourth official has told me he's been caught in the face – there's no chance he's caught him in the face, it's probably bicep or chest area where the contact has happened.

"They say it's the out of control or reckless aspect of it that we've been warned about in the last couple of years like going into a sliding tackle and winning the ball with your right foot but your trailing left leg could catch somebody and be reckless.

"From that point of view, there's a challenge on (Jamie) Glackin in which we don't even earn a free-kick for that is absolutely identical.

"If you're saying Matthew is reckless and you're getting a red card then fair enough, but then to me in that context, how the other one isn't even a free-kick.

"It's hellish frustrating. It was 2-1 at that stage and if they go down to ten men with 20 minutes to go, it possibly would give us a shot in the foot.”

They’ll now hope to bounce back against a Cliftonville side that beat them 5-0 at Solitude last month with Jim Magilton’s men currently boasting the league’s best defence.

"They've been flying,” added Kearney. “We had a tough game up there a month ago which was well documented.

"To be fair, our first-half performance up there was probably bang on the money and we didn't deserve to go in 1-0 down.

"But our second-half performance wasn't and there's no hiding from that.

"We've got to make sure we hit a 90, 95 minute performance.”