Captain’s Column

IN his latest column, Coleraine captain Stephen O’Donnell pays tribute to Oran Kearney as he was announced as the St Mirren manager this afternoon…

Another week of mixed emotions for us as players and you as fans. Who ever said it was easy being a Bannsider? The only place to start this week’s column is with the gaffer leaving to become St.Mirren manager. First and foremost, we are gutted to see him leave. As fans I know you have had a fantastic connection with him and will be sad to see him leave, whilst also wishing him the best of luck in his new venture into full time football. For us as players, we have lost a manager and I feel most of the boys would feel comfortable calling him a friend. He has been excellent for us as players and fantastic for Coleraine as a club. I don’t need to tell you the effect he has had on the club over his time here, because you all know that better than me. He took a club from mid table and transformed everything behind the scenes and after a lot of hard work, I feel the team on the pitch and the club are right where he wanted them to be, which is probably why it was such a hard decision for him to leave.

As players we were lucky enough to work with Oran on a weekly basis and I’m sure that anyone who has played under him will only have positive things to say.  He was approachable and understanding which are qualities that players love in a manager. His ability to be open and honest meant that every player knew where they stood and if you had a problem, he would work with you to get through it, professional or personal. Professionally the gaffer was top notch. Arguably the best manager that I have played under. He had the ability to simplify the individual jobs and roles he wanted from each player and I feel this made us tick like a well-oiled machine last season. Finally, the gaffer has a great understanding and knowledge of football. That might sound like an obvious requirement to be a manager, but you would be surprised. The gaffer has a fantastic eye for understanding the phases of play throughout a game and the reasons why things were happening on the pitch. As opposed to the old school mentality of it being because we weren’t working hard enough. The gaffer has a fantastic ability to spot a problem or a weakness in our game and then provide a solution and a way forward to improve for the second half or the next game. And that might be a small insight as to why we performed so well in the second half of games so many times last season.

Alongside his obvious ability to manage and lead, the gaffer is a brilliant person. As an individual you will struggle to find a nicer man and like you as fans, all the boys had a great relationship with him. For me personally he brought me to the club last season and he has been a big part of me improving as a player and our on-field success. He looked after me right from day one and gave me the opportunity to play. Even last preseason when it took me a few games to get used to the boys and a change in system, he kept calm and filled me with confidence to perform and push on. Finally, he gave me the opportunity to captain this great club in an Irish cup final and I will be forever thankful to him for that. So good luck at St. Mirren gaffer, you will be sorely missed around the showgrounds. We wish him all the best for the future and I have no doubt that he will become a success. The boys will love him, the fans will love him and hopefully he can hit the ground running next week. Celtic at home is an easy one to get him started.

With the gaffer leaving, it can be easy to get caught up in disappointment. For us as players there was an initial sadness when we heard the news. However, there is no doom and gloom at Coleraine. Yes, we have lost a manager but there is a huge opportunity for someone to come in and be successful. Let’s not forget there is a changing room of Irish Cup winners who are all hungry to succeed. Whoever the club decide is the right man to get the job will be taking on a fantastic group of players. A group of talented players who want to work hard for each other and are desperate for success together. So let’s all pull together as players, staff and fans and make sure that this club keeps going in the right direction and back whoever takes over.

Before the news of the gaffer came out, there was the small matter of three points at Seaview. I mentioned in last week’s piece that I felt this was the perfect game for us to show exactly what we’re about, and we duly delivered. All aspects of that performance on Monday felt like it was right on the money. I felt physically we were the more aggressive team and we stood up to everything Crusaders threw at us, whilst also being an attacking threat at the same time. This was as important a performance from us as any since I’ve been here. I say performance particularly because on this occasion, our performance was the most important thing. Until that game we had a slow start to the season, again in terms of performance not points. As I write this we are top of the league, however we hadn’t got back to the levels of last season until Monday night. Playing at that level and intensity is where we need to be every single week if we want to be successful and I think that result will have sent a message out to the rest of the league; look at where we are, and we haven’t even started yet. So it’s important now that we go and follow that up with another big performance away to Ards in a few weeks and we become that relentless side again that served us so well last year. On Crusaders, aside from what has been said in the media, I think they will be honest enough to admit that we were the better team on the night and deserved all three points. We don’t get carried away with three points as you get the same three for beating Crues as we got for beating Warrenpoint. So for them, yes we were the better side on Monday, but I would fully expect them to bounce back in the coming weeks and they will definitely be in the mix come the end of the season.

So let’s all pull together as players, staff and fans and make sure that this club keeps going in the right direction and back whoever takes over

Finally, our participation in the second round of the IRN-BRU Cup against Formartine United has gone under the radar. This is a great opportunity to play against unfamiliar opposition and hopefully we can go and be competitive in the competition. This week’s opponent Formartine will come full of optimism and we will have to be right on our game to get through. They have started their season well and they sit sixth place after eight games. Most notably they have scored a high number of goals and we will need to be sharp both defensively and from set pieces again on Saturday. As for me this week, I will be watching on. I have been playing for a few weeks with a knee injury and this week had been earmarked as an opportunity for me to rest and hopefully be back fully fit for the trip to Ards the following week. We are also missing Jamie this week, who is on international duty with the u21’s and he deserves huge congratulations for that. I think you’ll agree it was well deserved as his form in recent weeks and the two goals he scored on Monday were fantastic. This additional game will give the opportunity for the coaching team to give players who need game time a chance outside of the league to play. We have a squad of high quality players and I have no worries that whoever is selected will perform well and get us through to the next round.

I think it’s appropriate to end this week by wishing Oran all the best, he deserves it. We move forward together full of optimism and I’m sure whoever comes in we can have a successful season. Come out in your numbers on Saturday night to cheer on the boys and get us through to the next round.

C’mon the Bannsiders!

Stephen O’Donnell