A frustrated Oran Kearney admitted the BetMcLean League Cup final swung in Linfield's favour after their two-goal salvo at the start of the second half.
Kearney felt his Coleraine side were well in the game until Joel Cooper broke the deadlock on 49 minutes before Chris Shields penalty ten minutes later secured the trophy for the Blues for an eleventh time.
“It was very frustrating. Goals change cup finals. We were more than in a game until the goals," said Kearney.
Read more: 'This might be my last cup final, you never know' - David Healy
“Linfield made a great start but we tweaked our formation and that allowed us to get a foothold in the game. From 15 minutes on, we had some good opportunities and started to play well.
“At half-time, it was very even. Linfield had a big crowd there and I felt that the longer we stayed in the game the edgier they would become.
“I preached all week about only taking risks in the right areas and I spoke about it again at half-time.
“Conor McKendry was brilliant for us throughout the game, but I urge him to attempt those sorts of balls inside the final third.
“He tried it inside our own half. One bad pass and it’s a goal. And all of a sudden all your best laid plans are gone.
“The Linfield fans lose that edginess and it becomes a really tough assignment.
“We suffered this disappointment last year, but this is a different type of frustration as we lost the game in a very different way.
“This game was a real game of chess. It was going the way we wanted it to go, but we let them off the hook with two early goals at the start of the second half.
"It’s highly frustrating and it’s highly unusual when compared to how we played the rest of the game.”
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