James McLaughlin ends special year on a high

2020 may not go down as a memorable year for too many people, but for James McLaughlin it has been a pretty special one.
Coleraine's James McLaughlin slots the ball  home for his second goal. Credit   Inpho/Stephen HamiltonColeraine's James McLaughlin slots the ball  home for his second goal. Credit   Inpho/Stephen Hamilton
Coleraine's James McLaughlin slots the ball home for his second goal. Credit Inpho/Stephen Hamilton

The Coleraine striker scored the winner in the BetMcLean League Cup final back in February.

He scored two vital goals for the Bannsiders in the Europa League against La Fiorita and Maribor. And on Saturday he came off the bench to scored Coleraine’s final two goals of the year in the victory over Cliftonville.

“It has been a very good year for myself,” said McLaughlin.

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“I was speaking to Lyndon (Kane) after the game talking about some of the big moments in the past 12 months and it’s been the best year of my career without a doubt.”

McLaughlin showed all his striking prowess at Solitude with two clinical strikes after coming off the bench.

He scored his first 15 seconds after coming on heading home Ian parkhill’s cross with his first touch of the game.

And McLaughlin nicked the ball off Gary Breen in the closing stages before colly slotting past Richard Brush to secure all three points.

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“Three points makes it a perfect evening, it doesn’t really matter how we get them,” said the striker.

“Obviously it was nice to come on and score a couple.

“The boys are playing well at the minute and no-one’s place is guaranteed. The key thing is to take your chance when it comes along.

“As a striker it’s good to be scoring, but as long as we’re winning I’m happy.

“The boys were playing well when I came on it was about trying to get us a bit further up the field.

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“We were starting to fall back a bit so it was just about coming on and trying to change it up a bit.

“I just about got into the box before ‘Parky’ swung the ball in.

“I didn’t have much to do because all the pace was on the ball, I just had to make sure I made contact and steer it home.

“As the game went on we always knew that they would push more bodies forward and there was going to be that opportunity for us to play on the break.

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“We would have taken a 1-0 win to be honest but it was nice to get the second. It was nice to end the year with a win.”

It’s back-to-back wins for Oran Kearney’s men now and McLaughlin hopes they can push on in the new year as the season enters the business end.

“It was a difficult few weeks, but the boys have knuckled down and they know what is needed,” he said.

“We know how good a team we are, but we will just take it game-by-game.

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“We’ve got a bit of an extra break now, not that we need it, but we can reset and get ready to go again. The games are coming thick and fast in January so we know we need to be on the ball early.”

Cliftonville: Brush, McDermott, Breen, Harney (McCrudden 78), C Curren, O’Connor (Maguire 68), R Curran, Donnelly, Bagnall (McMenamin 64) Doherty, Gormley.

Subs: Dunne, Foster, Casey, Hyland.

Coleraine: Deane, Kane, Traynor, O’Donnel. McCoanghie, Doherty, Lowry, Tweed (Jarvis 74), Parkhill, Glackin (Wilson 84), Nixon (McLaughlin 55).

Subs: Gallagher, Douglas, Allen, Beverland.

Referee: Raymond Crangle

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