Ruaidhri Higgins says his side’s results over the festive and New Year period “potentially” cost the Bannsiders from getting their hands on a second-ever league title.

After a strong end to the season, Higgins guided Coleraine to a second-place finish in the Premiership table and Irish Cup success last term, which also sealed a return to European football for the first time since 2021.

Coleraine suffered an inconsistent run of results in late December into early January after suffering three defeats in four Premiership outings, which Higgins claimed potentially cost his troops the Gibson Cup as they only lost out to winners Larne by three points.

“I've learned so much,” he told Coleraine’s social media platforms.

placeholder image — Ruaidhri Higgins admits the importance of the festive and new year period is something he has learned after his first year in charge at Coleraine

"I thought I knew the Irish League...I had a good grasp on it to be honest but there are certain aspects where I would love to start that Christmas period again because I would definitely go about it differently.

"It's brilliant learning...we lost three out of four games over that period, we won one which wasn't a good enough return and it cost us from potentially winning a league title.

"I would definitely do things differently looking back and to me that's been the biggest learning.”

Higgins says that whilst he and his staff enjoyed their winning end to the season by claiming Irish Cup glory, preparations are already under way for the 2026/27 campaign.

He added: “We saw Windsor Park on the day of the final, it was electric, supporters were unbelievable.

"Then after we had a good couple of days as well, we had a brilliant night here on the Saturday and on the Sunday as well. Really, really good celebrations but then very quickly players go off on holiday and then we're still here trying to get ready for pre-season.

"That's the gig that we're in, that's our job. You dwell on failure too much or you dwell on success too much, it can hurt you so very, very quickly you've got to move on.

"As much as you would like to enjoy it for longer, you've got to move on. That's what we're doing.”

You have to go back to 1974 for Coleraine’s sole league success and Higgins is determined to bring that long wait to an end.

"I'll just throw it out there as there's no point in hiding behind it now...it's been a long, long time since this club won a league title.” he continued.

“We finished second, we took it to the wire, we won the Irish Cup.

"The only thing that we can improve on is finishing first in the league and that's our ambition and we're not going to shy away from it and we'll do everything in our power to go after it.

"It's been a good first season for us, the group of players, the group of staff.

"We're happy with it, we're happy with it. We're not ecstatic, we're happy with it and we know that there's room for improvement and that's what we're going to set out to do next season.

"There's so many people that no one would know about and that do so much for the football club. Trust me, without those people, success doesn't happen, so we need absolutely everybody.”