Moment of pinball cost us: OK

ORAN Kearney said he couldn’t fault his players for their courage and effort after yesterday’s European play-off defeat to Crusaders…

The Bannsiders had led 1-0 through Jamie McGonigle’s early effort but found themselves behind at the break as Jarlath O’Rourke and Daniel Larmour netted for the hosts.

Josh Carson equalised in spectacular fashion but Crusaders would secure the European jackpot as Jordan Owens converted from close range as the game entered stoppage time.

Kearney remarked the ending was a “moment of madness” but his squad gave it everything they had throughout the 90 minutes.

“There’s lots of things needed on a day like today – courage, stamina, mental and physical effort – and I thought for big parts of it we had all that we needed,” he said.

“Particularly being away from home at a place that’s very hard to come to I thought for big parts of it we looked strong and dominant.

“At different stages when it ebbed and flowed we looked possibly like the side that was ideally going to get something.

“But that moment of pinball, that moment of madness near the end and sadly it’s cost us.”

The fixture was Stephen Baxter’s last in charge of Crusaders and Kearney believes his players adapted well to the emotion of the game in north Belfast.

“It’s hard to say (one that got away) because you know how strong they are here and we knew everything that was attached to this game today,” he added.

“I’d said it pre-game privately to our guys it can go one of two ways.

“Sometimes that can have an adverse effect, sometimes it can have a good effect.

“For us, I thought we started really well and for 30 minutes we were bang on where we needed to be.

“Then, all of a sudden, two minutes of madness and the game has flipped.

“Credit to our boys and we spoke massively about it at half-time about another momentum swing and about being in it long enough to ensure that we give ourselves the opportunity to do that.

“I thought before the goal we looked dangerous, we had two or three other opportunities, and it’s a helluva strike from Josh, one that probably doesn’t deserve to be on a losing team, and I felt the momentum swung back in our direction.

“We had a couple of other chances, Conor had a really good chance at the back post, we had a couple of other sniffs as well and it probably looks like it’s going the distance to extra-time.

“Then, all of a sudden, it’s that first phase and second phase which is pinball in there, and it’s just one of those moments.”

With Crusaders now in line to secure a six-figure windfall for the success, Kearney was quick to point-out that the club never budgeted for European qualification.

He explained: “Of course there’s an impact (losing) because finance is finance and it helps everybody.

“But we never budgeted it for it, we never do, we never have in the past and probably never will in the future. I suppose you could call it bonus money.

“All the times we’ve competed in Europe before we’ve built a club around it – it’s never gone into a budget or it’s never gone into wages.

“We’ve put down a pitch, sprinklers, VIP lounge, shop, everything, and it has massively helped us turn around the club to be the club that it is now.

“Listen, it would have been great, make no bones about it, and I’ve said it before, probably for the players it’s more about the experience of what it gets from going and doing that.

“As I said, today I can’t be too frustrated with the players.

“We’ll let the next couple of days settle and then start fighting again and away you go.”