Irish Cup semi-finals: Reaching final 'a brilliant achievement'
Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins says reaching May's Irish Cup final against Dungannon Swifts is "a special feeling" and just reward for everyone involved with the club.The Bannsiders progressed to the decider against holders Dungannon Swifts by defeating Premiership leaders Larne 2-1 after extra time at Windsor Park on Saturday.Joel Cooper fired Coleraine into a first-half lead, Matty Lusty levelled in the second half, but substitute Matthew Shevlin scored the winner in the second period of extra time."It's a special feeling and I'm so pleased for everyone connected with the club. So proud and delighted that we have our place in the final," Higgins told BBC Sport NI."It's a brilliant achievement as it's our first year together as a collective and we have something tangible to look forward to and something to be really excited about. "Our players, our staff, everyone connected with the club, deserves it."Higgins praised Mark Coyle's delivery, which provided the ammunition for the matchwinner's predatory close-range finish."Mark delivered an absolutely beautiful ball, an outstanding cross, and Matthew Shevlin, what he does is put himself in brilliant goalscoring positions."He has done that for a countless number of years and I'm really ecstatic for everyone that we managed to get over the line."Matthew could have put us in front in the first half of extra time but in the end 'Shevty' does what he does and gets on the end of it."The Coleraine boss expects a tough test against the Swifts in the final but knows his side must focus on the remaining matches of the league season first, starting with another meeting with Larne on Tuesday night."We have four big league games to navigate now and then we can look forward to the cup final at that point."We'll be coming up against a team that knows how to win this thing. I've the utmost respect for everyone at Dungannon but on the day it will be up to us to try and lift a huge piece of silverware for our people."
