Weather permitting we travel north to the Showgrounds to face Coleraine in the Tennents’ Irish Cup Quarter Final in what will be our most important game of the season so far.
Last time we played Coleraine in the Irish Cup was at the same stage in 2011when we won on penalties at the Showgrounds after a 3-3 draw in a replay following an initial 1-1 draw at the Oval. We have won our last four Irish Cup meetings with Coleraine and of the eighteen times we’ve met in the cup, Glentoran have won fourteen. Hopefully it’s a positive omen that we defeated Coleraine at the Showgrounds at the same stage when Ronnie McFall led us to our Irish cup win in 1983. On that day we won 3-1 with goals from Barney Bowers, Gerry Mullan and Ron Manley. A similar outcome would do the trick this season.
Our form against the Bannsiders needs to improve with two defeats and a draw so far this season. Our last win came at the Showgrounds in May 2016 when goals from Calum Birney and Curtis Allen helped us to a 2-1 win in the Premiership Europa League playoff first round.
Ronnie McFall said on Thursday evening: “I’ve been very pleased with the two performances this week. The lads went out against Warrenpoint and started exactly where they left off against Cliftonville. You can clearly see the confidence growing in them and the three finishes from Robbie McDaid was a perfect example of that. They’ve clearly raised the bar over the course of those two matches and now we all need to keep it up against Coleraine who are definitely one of the better teams in the league this season. It’s a big and important game for us and if the players keep building on this momentum and approach it with confidence there’s every chance of us getting the result we all want and going on to the semi final.
Calum Birney is still suspended for this one and James Knowles knee needs more time after his injury against Cliftonville. John McGuigan was a late withdrawal for us on Tuesday as he was coming down with a heavy cold but hopefully he’ll be in contention for Saturday.
I’m really hoping the match is played this Saturday. The players are all up for it and so am I. We’ll have a great crowd there on Saturday and we want to give the supporters something back.”
