Kearney wants to continue club growth

ORAN Kearney admits he has been “hurt” by recent results but wants his side to take advantage of “a huge amount of football” that’s left in the season…

The Bannsiders suffered back-to-back defeats to Cliftonville and Crusaders in the Sports Direct Premiership.

However, there will be a break from league duty this evening as the Stripes face Championship side Bangor on the Ballycastle Road.

“We’ve been through some brilliant times here and some really tough, tough times as well in the past ten years,” he said.

“I think the growth of the club in that time has been superb and we want to keep going in that trajectory.

“The last few days have hurt, there’s not much point saying otherwise and in the first-half today versus Crusaders I thought we stuck at it after going behind.

“It’s just disappointing that when we go for it late on that it leaves us caught at the other end.”

Coleraine have reached the last three finals of the competition and Kearney has challenged his side to maintain their momentum in the tournament.

“We are early days at this stage of the season,” he added.

“There’s still a huge amount of football to be played.

“For us, number one we want to continue our recent history in the competition by progressing.

“At the end of the day, winning games of football is the most important thing at any club.

“As I’ve said, the last few days have really, really hurt from that point of view.”