Coleraine manager Oran Kearney (left) has been impressed with the recent performances by winger Conor McKendry as the Bannsiders face derby rivals Ballymena United this afternoon
The winger scored a brace in the Bannsiders’ 4-1 win against Glenavon at the start of the month and repeated that feat in the 2-0 victory away at Newry City last Friday night.
Kearney, who has always vowed to get the best out of the 25-year-old, is hoping that is proving to be the case as his side travel to derby rivals Ballymena United this afternoon.
“Conor’s been in top form,” he said.
“We are speaking about Conor more and more every week and it’s what I’ve always craved and wanted.
“His two finishes against Newry were brilliant, he’s scored some brilliant wonder goals in the last few weeks but it’s great to see him score a tap-in or sniffing by getting on the end of something.
“The thing that I’ll always look for and drive from him is trying to do better than what he did last season.
“We are starting to see that from Conor, he’s possibly ahead with the goals than what he weighed in with last season and he’s had plenty of assists.
“It’s moving in the right direction but it’s not one we are going to get carried away with and Conor won’t either.
“He’s very hard working, a pleasure to have around the place and ideally we want to keep his head down and keep working at it.”
The two teams would face off on the opening night of the season as the Sky Blues took a 12th minute lead through Colin Coates’ header.
However, Jim Ervin’s first game in charge of Ballymena would end in a defeat as Matthew Shevlin netted in both halves as Coleraine deservedly won 2-1 on the Ballycastle Road.
Despite having to wait until their sixth game to pick up their first Premiership points, Kearney acknowledged recent improvement by Ervin’s troops.
He added: “It was very tough game on the opening night of the season.
“To be fair to Jim, he has them working hard and well drilled.
“Added to that, it’s a derby so for us it’s about getting another week behind us and go into it as fresh as possible.”
