Oran Kearney's Coleraine side were humbled by Cliftonville
Oran Kearney declared himself embarrassed and ashamed by Coleraine’s 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Cliftonville and accused some of his players of downing tools at Solitude.
In a forthright post-match assessment, the Bannsiders boss admitted that he and his squad deserved the pelters that came their way from the visiting fans and urged his troops to take an honest look in the mirror before reporting for duty when they host Crusaders this weekend.
Having produced a sublime display to get the better of Glentoran last Friday, Coleraine failed to spark against the Reds but were always in the game until Joe Gormley’s second of the night put the hosts 2-0 ahead early in the second period, after which Jim Magilton’s side ran amok.
“We’ve had many a night at Solitude over the last few years and plenty of ding-dong games, which I expected coming here,” reflected Kearney.
“We’ve been ahead in those games, we’ve been behind in those games, but the one thing we showed an abundance of in all of those games was character and spirit.
“I can only call a spade a spade where I’m standing in my position – when the second goal goes in, we down tools. That’s my take on things and I’m not hanging people out to dry because at some stage, the buck has to stop with me, but there’s an accountability in that changing room as well.
“It’s the first time in a long time I’ve had to say it to a group of players in a Coleraine shirt – after 49 minutes of a game, they’ve downed tools. Yes, Cliftonville were good when they got ahead and got a goal or two, but I don’t think they had to work extremely hard for them and that’s the thing that hurts the most.”
After an indifferent start the season,
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