Kelly hopes little break pays dividends

GRAHAM Kelly reflected on an unforgettable night for Coleraine as the Bannsiders reached the quarter-final of the BetMcLean Cup, whilst also looking forward to this evening’s fixture against Glentoran…

By: Charlie Cooke

Oran Kearney’s men were last in action on Tuesday as they overcame Glentoran via a marathon penalty shoot-out that ended 18-17 in the Bannsiders’ favour.

That victory means Coleraine will be at home to either Limavady United or Glenavon in the next round of the competition.

Kelly, who joined the club in the summer from Larne, remarked on a “mad” evening at the Ballymena Showgrounds.

“It’s probably one of the maddest things I’ve been involved in, in football it’s coming into Wednesday now and we’re doing this interview,” he joked.

“The most important thing is that we came out and got through to the next round.

“If we were being honest with ourselves throughout the first 90 minutes, we probably weren’t good enough, but we made a few changes at half-time, the two lads that came on Lynch and Davy done well and we got our goal.

“After that, it was case of trying to go for that second one, we had one or two opportunities, but it ended up going to penalties so had to do it the hard way.”

After Graham scored both his penalties, he was asked if he has ever taken a penalty in his career before.

“No, I’ve probably only hit one or two,” he confirmed.

“Oran asked who fancied one, I think the first time around I was sixth or seventh, I didn’t think it was going come around a second time, but thankfully I finished it off.

“Everyone took two penalties so, it’s just mad but listen the main thing is that we’re through to the next round.”

When asked what he thought of the prospect of playing Glentoran this evening he said:

“I think Saturday was a tough and then coming into tonight obviously, we have gone through 120 minutes and to penalties, but we’ve got that little break now before Monday, we have got to get ourselves ready for that”.