Coleraine chief Dean Shiels says January recruit Ronan Doherty is “fit and ready to go” ahead of making his potential club debut in Saturday’s Premiership clash against Crusaders.

Doherty is arguably the standout transfer of the window so far after swapping Cliftonville, where he made 240 appearances and won an Irish Cup crown, for the Bannsiders.

The 29-year-old is reportedly set to be joined at the Showgrounds by Larne full-back Levi Ives and Linfield talisman Joel Cooper in the summer as Shiels’ side look to make their mark on the Irish League landscape.

Known for his creativity and passing ability, Doherty could line out for his new club in front of home support this weekend as Coleraine return to action for the first time in two weeks after last weekend’s trip to Glenavon was postponed due to a frozen Mourneview Park pitch.

placeholder image — Coleraine head coach Dean Shiels. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)

Former Institute midfielder Doherty followed his ex-Cliftonville team-mate Paddy Burns through the door at Coleraine and Shiels admits it’s a boost having both players at his disposal.

"We're delighted to get Paddy and Ronan in - we feel they will really help us for the second part of the season,” he said. "Ronan is fit and ready to go.

"Paddy is possibly lacking a bit of matches so we need to gradually try and feel him into it...we have another opportunity to do that on Tuesday in the North West Cup.

"Dylan (Boyle) will be suspended, Jack Scott is struggling still - he got on the grass recently so we're hoping to get Jack back soon.

"Alfie Gaston is the same and we're delighted to try and get Alfie back amongst the group because he is so talented and has been unlucky this year through injury, as has Aidan Tejeda.

"We have Aidan back amongst the group and they've been training so it's just about getting them some game time and try to get as strong as we can for the second half of the season."

Coleraine currently sit ninth in the Premiership, one spot and one point behind weekend opponents Crusaders, who are coming off consecutive league defeats to Larne and Dungannon Swifts, but hold two matches in hand.

Shiels’ side have played an attacking brand of football with only league leaders Linfield scoring more goals (43) than their 37 while their home form has been solid, collecting 17 points from a possible 30.

The Crues have won all three previous meetings between the two teams this season – all by a scoreline of 2-1 – and Shiels is determined to come out on the right side this time around.

"I think it's just replicating the performances and hopefully we get the result on top of that,” he added. "People are always looking for the outcome and result, which is the most important thing, but if you can hit a consistent level of performance, which we have done against them, then hopefully we can get three points this time.

"They've got good players, they are a hard team to beat and it's going to be a difficult game, but we're looking forward to it.

"If you look at the last game against Crusaders when we went down to 10 men, we were brilliant and nearly got the equaliser.

"The fans were driving us on and you could see it when we played at home to Ballymena on Boxing Day that the fans were getting right behind us and were pushing us and driving us on.

"At home they've been brilliant this year and we need to keep going and give the fans something to get behind us about."