'He's a player's dream to play with' - Dean Shiels 'delighted' with Coleraine star heading into Irish League showdown against rivals Ballymena United
Coleraine head coach Dean Shiels admits he’s delighted with the early form of talisman Matthew Shevlin after starting their Premiership campaign by scoring in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Dungannon Swifts and says the striker is a “dream to play with” due to his all-round ability.
Shevlin wasted no time in opening his goal account for the 2024/25 campaign by striking in the 81st minute at Stangmore Park as the Bannsiders rescued a point ahead of Friday’s derby showdown with rivals Ballymena United.
The 25-year-old stepped away from a full-time job this summer to sign a new three-year contract at the Showgrounds as Coleraine transition into full-time football following their February takeover by businessmen Ranald McGregor-Smith and Patrick Mitchell.
They’ve joined Glentoran, Larne and Linfield as full-time Irish League powers and Shevlin is once again spearheading their attack after scoring 12 Premiership goals last term, while he shared the Golden Boot with recent Ross County signing Ronan Hale in the previous campaign having netted 29 times across competitions.
He has scored five in 10 appearances against neighbours Ballymena and Shiels has fired an early warning to the opposition, saying Shevlin has looked “really sharp in training all week”.
"He's super,” said Shiels on Shevlin. “If you take away his goal, you have his work ethic, work-rate, he's able to lead the line himself, he's able to occupy two central defenders and he's a player's dream to play with because he's constantly on the move, he works hard and puts his body on the line.
"Then when he gets into the box he has that quality to turn, manipulate the ball and it was an excellent finish. We're really pleased with him and he has looked really sharp in training all week leading into this game so we're delighted with him and other players at the top-end of the pitch."
According to Irish League Stats Man on X, Coleraine have the top-flight’s youngest squad with an average age of 23.1 while Dean Jarvis (32) is the only player aged over 30 in their ranks.
Most of the stars Shiels has recruited this summer, including Kyle Spence, Kirk McLaughlin, Dylan Boyle and MacKenzie Carse, have experience of working in a full-time environment and the ex-Dungannon chief admits that has been an important component of recent business.
"When we've been trying to recruit we looked at players that have a history of being in the full-time environment,” he added. “That helps and the other players, like Lyndon (Kane), Jamie McGonigle, Rory Brown, Jack Scott, those players were transitioned into a full-time model from January.
"They've had a bit of a head start in that and it's been a transition for the players from part-time into full-time. Recruitment was massive for us and we looked at the age profile of players.
"We didn't want players with too much injury history and I think we only have one player over 30 in the squad so we're looking at young players that have something to prove, are hungry and want to use Coleraine to come here and make a point. That was the profile we're looking at."