Bagging European prize would turn Coleraine's turbulent season into a success: Oran Kearney

The Bannsiders booked their ticket to the decider following an emphatic 3-0 win over Glentoran at The BetMcLean Oval on Wednesday night.

A delicious double strike from Jamie McGonigle and a first goal of the season for defender Lyndon Kane helped Kearney’s men achieve their first-ever Play-Off victory.

Although the Bannsiders could manage only a sixth-place finish in the Sports Direct Premiership table, a whopping 44 points behind champions Larne, they are now within touching distance of a slot in the UEFA Conference League – and an end-of-season financial bonanza.

“That was our sole task, for four (Play-Off teams) to become two and try and be part of the two,” said Kearney. “For big parts of the season, we’ve struggled with injury and suspensions.

“Shevvie (Matthew Shevlin) missed a large part; Jamie (McGonigle) only arrived (from Derry City) at Christmas. Just to have those players on the pitch, it gives you that threat up front.

“Jamie’s goals were the difference. We were not scoring goals at the start of the season; you struggle to win games when you are not scoring goals.

“Again, his finishes (against Glentoran) were top-notch... he is ice cold. We watch Jamie do that all the time. The third one was just brilliant improvisation from (Jamie) Glackin and Jamie.

“We worked on a few different things (in training), but it malfunctioned, but on that occasion, we ended up with a great goal out of it.”

Kearney stresses it will be another ‘tense’ 90 minutes on Monday.

“It will be no mean feat to go there and play against a Crusaders team who are renowned for their home form and how well they play at Seaview,” he added.

“But we’ve shown that on our day, we can go and hurt most teams in the League. It’s a new script; it’s up to us to start from scratch and have a big push at it. Although we’ve beaten them there this season, it means nothing.”

Kearney insists his boys have been building towards an end-of-season crescendo, and getting key players back from injury has been vital.

He went on: “We knew it (the performance) was there, I thought we were super against Glentoran.

“We felt over the course of the past eight to 10 weeks, we’ve had more performances like that and less negative displays.

“We felt we had the players on the pitch in the right areas that would help us get the result. To be fair to Glentoran, they threw everything at us, but generally, I thought we managed the game well at different stages.

“We scored goals, which is always important, particularly the third one because we knew there was going to be a Glentoran onslaught after the restart.

“It lasted slightly longer than we anticipated. The third goal was the important one because it gave us that bit of breathing space. We were comfortable for large parts.”

Kearney insisted his boys were still haunted by a 6-0 hammering consumed at the same venue back in January.

“I took a lot of stick after it,” he added. “But the way we go about our business in training, nothing changed all season long. We still do the same things; we have the same expectations.

“The big difference is over the last eight or nine weeks, we’ve had our big guns out on the pitch and not in the grandstand – that makes a heck of a difference.”