Ruaidhri Higgins hoping Coleraine star can rediscover 'unplayable' form after 'difficult 18 months'
Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins heaped praise on Jamie McGonigle after he marked his return from injury by scoring in Saturday’s 2-0 triumph over Crusaders – and wants to get him back to the “unplayable” form shown during their time together at Derry City.
McGonigle, who spent three months on the sidelines with a quad injury, was included in the Bannsiders’ squad for their trip to Seaview and came off the bench with 20 minutes to go.
The 29-year-old netted Coleraine’s second in the dying moments, adding to Jamie Glackin’s first half strike as Higgins’ men got back to winning ways following consecutive defeats against Cliftonville and Larne.
McGonigle produced prolific form during a first stint at The Showgrounds and also impressed at Crusaders before being snapped up by Higgins, who spent over three years in charge of Derry City.
The talented attacker scored 24 Premier Division goals at the Brandywell under Higgins and returned to Coleraine in January 2024.
Saturday’s strike marked his first of the current campaign and with McGonigle part of a blistering Coleraine attack which includes the likes of Joel Cooper, Matthew Shevlin and Declan McManus, Higgins hopes to get him back to his best.
"Jamie has had a difficult 18 months or so,” Higgins told the club’s media channel. “He's had a difficult last three months.
"He tore his quad, but honestly, his application, how he's been training in the background, his own stuff in the gym, he's put on a lot of muscle.
"He looks really strong at the minute. I had Jamie for a period at Derry City where he was unplayable, he really was.
"The ambition, the idea, would be to get him as close to that as possible. If we can get him anywhere near close to that period he had, then we'll have a hell of a player on our hands for the second part of the season.”
Coleraine produced one of their best performances of the season so far in September’s trip to Crusaders, running out 4-0 victors, and remain two points behind leaders Larne, who also hold two matches in hand.
The victory ends a run of three league games without a win for the Bannsiders and Higgins was pleased to see his side fly out of the traps.
"I think the first 30 minutes were very similar to the first 30 minutes here earlier on in the season,” he added. “I thought we were really, really sharp, really bright in that period.
"The only disappointing thing for me was that we weren't further in front at half-time and then subconsciously because of what went on in the previous week or so, you kind of get into that mindset of maybe we need to hang on to what we have.
"Certainly it wasn't our intentions, but sometimes it can happen naturally on the pitch, but we didn't give up any chances. We had to dig in.
"We played some good stuff in the first half, dug in the second half and McGonigle gets a brilliant breakaway goal.”