Oran Kearney reflects on reaching special milestones

Back in February 2011 Kearney took charge of the Bannsiders for the very first time following his switch from Limavady United.

It was a case of heading into the lion’s den for the former Linfield man as Coleraine travelled up the A26 to take on derby rivals Ballymena United.

A Kyle McVey penalty secured a winning start for Kearney and kick-off a successful era at The Showgrounds.

Fast forward eleven-and-a-half years and some 498 games later and Kearney was back at Warden Street again hoping for a similar outcome in midweek.

And so it turned out as Conor McKendry slotted home the only goal of the game as the Bannsiders defeated their old rivals again and secure a place in the quarter-finals of the BetMcLean League Cup.

It was the perfect way for Kearney to rack up 500 games in charge at The Showgrounds.

After having to hang his boots up early due to injury he has thrived as a coach and developed into one of the most highly-respected and successful coaches in the Irish League at present as he embraced the highs and lows of football management.

“It’s been a long road with a few stories to tell within those 500 games,” he said.

“I hope I’ve gained a bit of experience.

“However, I’ve gained a few grey hairs I can tell you that and I can tell you a few players who made that happen.

“It’s been thoroughly enjoyable, I retired at 29 and I didn’t want to retire but I had no other choice and David Jeffrey was my manager.

“It was a real low at that moment in time about having to quit football at 29 when I didn’t envisage being that way, but little did I know then that it was brilliant as I was able to cut my teeth at Limavady.

“Football is socially great to be involved in, it’s great to have all those relationships as a player and then you keep that motoring as a manager and you visit grounds across the country and meet the same faces.

“The first four or five years were stressful whilst the next four or five were a tad more enjoyable.

“It’s getting tougher and tougher but it’s something that still consumes a lot of my mind on a daily basis.”

After missing out on the League Cup last season following Coleraine’s dramatic defeat to Cliftonville in the final Kearney was delighted to make it through to the last-eight of the competition yet again.

“It’s strange that the result is also the same as my first game in charge but I’m delighted for the guys to be through to another quarter-final and we want to keep pushing in that direction,” he said.

“Cup competitions have always been a focus for us since day one.

“The League Cup is one that’s been hot and cold for us in recent years – we won one and lost to Cliftonville last year.

“We’ve got to back-to-back finals, and as much as it hurt that day against Cliftonville, they are still great showpieces and great to be a part of.

“We want another bite of that, to emulate that again and go a stage further this season."

The Bannsiders have been challenging for major honours in the last few seasons under Kearney finishing runners-up in three out of four seasons as well as winning both the Irish Cup and League Cup.

After a busy summer of recruitment he is determined to have them fighting it out again at the top of the league after a sixth-placed finish last season.

With reigning champions Linfield visiting The Showgrounds this afternoon Kearney knows the importance of utilising his squad especially with three games in seven days.

“We all know it’s a squad game and ideally you try hard in this competition but it’s a heavy load and we’ve a lot of players who’ve played a lot of minutes this year,” he said.

“With that, it’s a derby and you want to get through to the quarter-finals but you also want to be protective of players like Lee (Lynch), who has been a big part of what’s been good about us this season.

“Whether he likes it or not, he’s 30 and the numbers he puts in is frightening at times when he’s on the pitch and I’m conscious of that.

“He doesn’t like it but he’s aware that the first chance we get to wrap him up in cotton wool that we take it.

“It’s a three game week; we played on Saturday, we played tonight and have Linfield on Saturday. With that, it’s important to keep things fresh as we have a good squad, we’ve bodies in the squad who were raring to go and we wanted to give a few an opportunity.”

Linfield head to The Showgrounds three points behind the Bannsiders but with two games in hand.

Boss David Healy is fully aware of the challenge of facing Kearney’s men at the Ballycastle Road venue after slipping to a 3-0 defeat there in their previous visit last season.

"I have huge respect for Coleraine, they've done an incredible job up there,” he told the club website.

"We always get a good battle with them up there and I would expect more of the same on Saturday.”