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Steven Crawford

Throwing teacups not the answer for Oran Kearney as Coleraine avoid cup shock

We've heard of Fergie's hairdryer and managers throwing the proverbial teacup after a disappointing first half showing, but Oran Kearney prefers a calmer approach.

The Coleraine boss could have been forgiven for reading the riot to his players as they trailed 1-0 to Championship leaders Loughgall after a below-par first 45 minutes in Saturday's Irish Cup tie.

And while he was not pleased with the overall performance in that first period, which saw his side trail to Jackson Holmes late header, Kearney revealed after the game he took a more placid approach with his players in a bid to get back in the game.

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"When the players come in at half-time you have to take a couple of minutes and settle them down because they're agitated and frustrated," he said.

"I don't think the throwing teacups is a helpful strategy, particularly nowadays because the players feel anxiety and tension and the last thing they need is more anxiety and tension.

"For us it was more constructive rather than chest-beating because they all try hard and are all good lads.

"It's more about what have we got away from and what do we need to get back to?

"It was so slow and robotic in the first half. It was frustrating for everybody, especially the players. It's not a case of them thinking they will go out and be lazy today.

"The big thing today was match pace and tempo. We needed a bit of patience and not to hide and dare to think someone else will get us out of this.

"It's about taking responsibility. Look at the first goal, there's big responsibility from Dean Jarvis, he thinks about having a shot from 35-yards, and then it clicks in about being patient.

"He plays a lovely ball to Conor (McKendry), who shows the star quality he has and puts the ball in the back of the net.

"If Jarvy gets impatient and lashes that from 30-odd yards we're still at 1-0."

McKendry's strike was followed by a penalty from Matthew Shevlin and a third from Michael McCrudden as the Bannsiders won to set up a last-16 clash with Cliftonville.

Although there was a brief period of nervousness around The Showgrounds after the visitors scored Kearney reminded the players that coming through days like this are important if you want to get the rewards of playing in a cup final.

"In my early days here we had a couple of fifth round scares but in the last few years the draw has probably gone better for us and it's been more of a normal passage," he said.

"So we haven't had a scare in the last four or five years.

"I said to the players that it's cold and windy today and there isn't a massive crowd, but it's days like today which earn you the suit and the chance to go there on a sunny day in May.

"The players deserve big credit because I've been involved in games like that in my early days as a manager and seen days like that go south.

"The 1-0 at half-time suddenly gives the underdog real strength and belief and we struggle.

"We couldn't afford to underestimate where we were at and what it was going to take, we couldn't go under and we had to show the courage so that we didn't just start banging it long and deviate from what we wanted to do.

"There was no panic, there was nobody hiding, and yes we got goals early in the second half, but the tempo we set was back to our levels.

"We started to flex our muscles a bit and played at our tempo rather than theirs and then the quality started to show."

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