It all comes down to this

AFTER all the ups and downs and trials and tribulations of a tumultuous season it comes down to this - Coleraine win their next two games and they will play European football this summer.

It seemed barely credible for large parts of the campaign but here we are - Glentoran at the Oval on Wednesday followed, potentially, by a clash with the winners of Crusaders and Carrick Rangers.

It’s a tantalising prospect, particularly with the riches associated with European competition.

Success in the coming days, allied to investment promised by a new ownership, would be a timely boost for Bannsiders’ boss Oran Kearney as he plots a path to narrowing the gap on the league’s leading clubs.

Saturday’s 5-0 defeat to newly crowned champions Larne highlighted that there is still some way to go in that regard. Both teams were missing key players but the Inver Park men were worthy winners on a day they celebrated back to back titles.

"Saturday wasn't ideal and it was a scenario we didn't want to find ourselves in," admitted Bannsiders' boss Oran Kearney.

"Due to the league not being technically over we had to go and field a team in a way we were looking after people because we had to be wary that Wednesday night was just around the corner.

"The split in this scenario can be quite tricky and tough where you're trying to navigate your way through that with a different mindset to Larne and Linfield who were chasing the title.

"For the rest of us, maybe bar Cliftonville who are saving themselves for a cup final, our agenda is slightly different where we all know we had work to do from the way the season had gone and we had work to do into players who maybe hadn't played the volumes of games they would have at this stage of the season.

"With that all in, the last six to eight weeks has been massively important for us and probably the most important stage of the season to make sure we get people ticking over and in the right frame of mind physically and mentally to be ready to hit these games.

"I'm happy we are there and I'm happy with the progress we've made in those eight weeks," he added.

The manager has an almost full strength squad to select from for Wednesday evening's trip to the Oval, bar midfielder Aaron Jarvis whose season is over because of an ankle injury, while a late decision will be made on Conor McKendry who limped out of the weekend defeat at Larne.

"We have had positive results against all three teams in the play-offs and that's important," continued Oran Kearney.

"We had a good result at home to Glentoran a couple of weeks ago and a really good result and performance up there earlier on in the season so that experience will hopefully stand us in good stead going into Wednesday night."

What needs to improve, however, is the club's recent results in similar end of season play-off games which, let's be honest, hasn't been great.

"I suppose when you analyse it all and look at the different ways in which we've landed or got our way in there, sometimes we have been rattled with injuries or sometimes punch-drunk in relation to the games we've played," admitted Oran.

"It will be interesting to see how we go this time because a lot of our seasons are generally the opposite where for three quarters of it we have been good and solid with the same bodies week in and week out. My memories of a few of the play-offs has seen us patched up and nearly running out of steam by that stage.

"Fingers crossed we do have a lot of players numbers wise that haven't played the same number of games they usually play by this stage of the season, so hopefully that will stand us in good stead."