Oran Kearney says he is not focusing on the league table at the minute

Coleraine have been slugging it out with Linfield at the top of the Danske Bank Premiership over the last few weeks.

Last week a lot was made of the Blues moving 11 points clear of the Bannsiders following their win over Crusaders on the Friday night.

Kearney’s men though had three games in hand of the leaders before they cut the gap to eight points with victory over Carrick Rangers.

Defeat for David Healy’s men at Ballymena on Tuesday night coupled with Coleraine’s draw with Glenavon cut the deficit by another point.

Kearney though remained unmoved pointing out the table only matters once the season has ended.

“What Linfield do is totally irrelevant,” said the Bannsiders boss.

“As for the league’s over etc, the league hasn’t started for me yet

“We all play 38 games hopefully. There’s no timescale on that.

“Ideally, we have an idea of where we need to be at, points-wise, after 38 games.

“No matter what happens elsewhere, our job last week was to beat Crusaders last Friday night, we had no game in midweek, and to win on the Saturday and we’ve fulfilled both of those.

“We’re just trying to win the next game; when you play game 38 you’ve an idea of where things are.”

After two Tuesday nights off the Bannsiders were back in midweek action at Mourneview Park this week.

They head to Solitude today to face a Cliftonville side who have had a week’s rest since their draw at Larne last Saturday.

Kearney knows the importance of keeping the squad as fresh as possible especially with such a packed schedule coming up.

“We had the fortune of having a break last week, not that it looked like it did us any good, and now we go into four weeks of Saturday-Tuesday,” he said.

“We’ve met teams who have been fresher than us and we’ve met teams on the other side of that, but it’s all just part and parcel of where we’re at the minute.

“That’s why you have to try and keep the squad as fresh as possible with so many games coming up.

“It’s different for different teams, you just have to adapt to the situation.”

TODAY’S FIXTURES: Ballymena United v Dungannon Swifts, Carrick Rangers v Warrenpoint Town, Cliftonville v Coleraine, Glenavon v Larne, Glentoran v Crusaders (3pm); Portadown v Linfield (5.30pm)

READ MORE:

Check out our Danske Bank Premiership Team of the Week

Danny Sonner on beating Manchester United’s treble heroes

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Irish and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Thank you,

Alistair Bushe

Editor