Jamie McGonigle bid weighed up by Coleraine

Oran Kearney has revealed the bid Coleraine has received for Jamie McGonigle has met the club’s valuation for the player.
The bid for Jamie McGonigle has met Coleraines valuation for the playerThe bid for Jamie McGonigle has met Coleraines valuation for the player
The bid for Jamie McGonigle has met Coleraines valuation for the player

However, the Bannsiders boss said the board has not accepted the ofer from the unnamed club as yet, and there are no guarantees they will either.

Speaking after Coleraine’s 1-0 win over Stranraer on Saturday Kearney admitted the striker may be looking to leave The Showgrounds.

But the Ballymoney man stressed any deal had to be right for Coleraine.

There’s an offer for Jamie that has met our valuation as such but it hasn’t been accepted by the Board,” Kearney told the club’s website.

“I have an idea of if the transfer happens, how I would like it to happen.

“I feel that Jamie is quite down the line in terms of wanting the move to materialise, but it has to suit Coleraine if it’s going to happen.

“There’s a bit of mileage in it yet.”

The former St Mirren man is hoping to do a bit of business himself as he shapes his own squad.

Dylan King and Dylan Davidson both left the Ballycastle Road last week and others may yet follow with new arrivals also in the pipeline.

“The squad is big at this moment in time and bigger than what I’ve experienced at the club,” he continued.

“For all reasons I want to get it down to a number that suits the way I like to do it, so there will be movement both in and out in the next couple of weeks and we have a lot of work to do on that front.”

Much of the squad is the same from Kearney’s first spell in charge of the Bannsiders.

But there are two new players in particular who he is keen to work with who arrived last season.

“I tried to sign Ben (Doherty) and Jamie (Glackin) in my first spell as manager so I’m fortunate that I can work with them now,” said Kearney.

“I spoke to Ben prior to his move to Glenavon and I also spoke to Jamie before he signed for Crusaders, and I joked to them about it in the changing room.

“They are both good lads, they fit into how I want us to play and I thought they both had two really good performances.”

Glackin proved his worth on Saturday as he popped up with the only goal of the game to get Kearney’s second spell in charge of the club off to winning ways.

With 23 minutes gone Josh Carson split the Stranraer defence with a superb ball.

Despite the home side’s appeal for an offside decision, the flag remained down and Ian Parkhill unselfishly squared the ball to Glackin who couldn’t miss.

There would be a late drama as Stranraer were awarded a dubious late penalty as Stephen O’Donnell was adjudged to have handled Pigniatiello’s shot.

Thankfully for Coleraine, the Blues would miss their penalty as Cummins fired his strike well over the crossbar.

“It was great to start off with a win, especially when you consider we got in on Thursday night,” added Kearney .

“To be fair to the backroom staff of Paul Owens, Winkie Murphy, Trevor McKendry and Michael Doherty, they have got good work done in the last couple of weeks.

“I think everybody was probably looking forward to their first game and this one in particular because over here they start the Betfred League Cup next week.

“So they are probably three weeks ahead of us and that was their fourth pre-season game.”

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