My Bannsiders XI

COLERAINE supporter Stephen McCrudden was this week tasked to come up with his favourite Bannsiders starting eleven…

Here is my favourite Coleraine starting eleven from I started following the club as a young boy. You’ll notice that most of my team consists of players who have won something at the club, namely the Irish Cup in 2003 and 2018. There has been many a good player who has played at the club but not won a trophy, but the ones who do win something are the players who go down in our club’s history.

Goalkeeper:

Chris Johns

The two top ‘keepers that Coleraine have had in my time following the club are Chris Johns and Davy O’Hare. I see so many similarities in both ‘keepers but have to go with Chris as he is the freshest in my mind. The fact that Chris is as good as he is at the age of 24, I imagine that he will go down as one of the best goalkeepers in our history if we can keep hold of him for a good period of time.

Defenders:

Lyndon Kane

Epitomises what the club is all about and what it stands for. Has had a hard time of it in recent years with injury but hopefully that is behind him now and he can push on from where he left off.

Gareth McAuley

Was a solid defender for us at the time but nobody could have expected the career he would go on to have in the Premier League and with Northern Ireland.

Stephen O’Donnell

A true leader for us now, and the man who led us to glory in the 2018 Irish Cup final. An absolute rock at the back and I hope he can captain us well into the future.

Gerry Flynn

Probably the last left back that I can remember that has held that position as their own. Hopefully now with Aaron Traynor coming back from injury he can go on to be our main left back for years to come.

Midfielders:

Stephen Dooley

From when he first made his debut for Coleraine you could tell there was something special about him, and the list of teams he has played for to now playing in League 1 at Rochdale just proves that. Pity his last run didn’t go quite as good as expected due to injury and other things but still a special player none the less. I’m not sure either how many players have won both the FAI Cup and the Irish Cup, but I’m sure there isn’t many.

Tony Gorman

One of my favourite Coleraine players from I started following the club. He could hit the target from just about anywhere.

Ciaron Harkin

In my opinion our best player in the 2018 Irish Cup run. He did a lot of the work that would go unnoticed as he wasn’t all about goals and assists, but his work rate was phenomenal along with his strength in tackling and eye for a pass. Glad to see him doing well at Derry City now and see him a lot of our games still which speaks volumes about what our club still means to him.

Stephen Carson

‘The King’ was just phenomenal. Probably the best player I’ve watched at the club over a significant period of time. Always was a total professional and scored some cracking goals and could put the ball on a plate for just about anyone.

Strikers:

Rory Patterson

Love him or hate him for whatever reason, the season he had with us scoring over 40 goals was incredible. Scoring four goals at The Oval back when the Glens were still a force was the high point of his time with us.

Jody Tolan

Will always be in my team because of that goal in the 2003 Irish Cup final. A proper old school number 9.

Credible Mentions:

Pat McAllister
Brad Lyons
Rory Hamill