Conor McMenamin's Move to Glentoran: Best for Everyone

Ruaidhri Higgins has called Conor McMenamin’s abrupt switch from Coleraine to Glentoran “best for everyone” after a whirlwind 10 weeks that never really settled on the north coast.

McMenamin arrived from St Mirren in June, billed as a marquee summer signing. By the end of the transfer window he was gone, unveiled at the Oval in a deal that sent midfielder Joe Thomson the other way to the Showgrounds.

Speaking after being named August’s manager of the month by the Northern Ireland Football Writers’ Association, Higgins did not argue with McMenamin’s own verdict that “it wasn’t meant to be” at Coleraine.

“Sometimes in football and just life in general, things don't go as expected or according to plan,” he said. “It's certainly not a personal issue with Conor at all.”

The Northern Ireland winger had been frank about the reasons. At 31, with family and personal matters weighing heavily, the idea of relocating from Downpatrick to the north coast never took hold. The reality was a daily slog: roughly 75 miles each way, around 90 minutes in the car, every day.

Higgins understood the strain.

He called that commute “not sustainable” and revealed the pair had been in regular dialogue as the window ticked down.

“Conor and I had regular conversations over the last couple of weeks actually,” he said. “We've come to this conclusion and I think it's best for everyone.”

The move did more than resolve a personal dilemma. It addressed a football problem too.

Coleraine had been left light in central midfield. Injuries to Mark Coyle and Rowan McDonald had stripped depth from an area Higgins views as critical if his side are to sustain a title push. Thomson’s arrival changes that picture, adding a different profile to a group that already includes Will Patching and Dylan Boyle.

“Joe is so different to the players that we have. He plays with an edge and he has a goal in him,” Higgins said of a player he knows well from their time together at Derry City.

“He's very much box-to-box and all-action, and I've worked with him before so I know what I'm getting.”

Deadline day at Coleraine did not stop there. As the McMenamin-Thomson story grabbed the headlines, the Bannsiders quietly completed another significant piece of business, prising Adam Brooks from Crusaders.

Brooks, a former Celtic striker, spent much of last season stationed out wide at Seaview. This campaign he had started through the middle and caught the eye early, not least with a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Portadown.

Higgins admitted he had been tracking the 22-year-old Scot for some time and sounded genuinely excited about his ceiling.

He described Brooks as a “young player with huge talent” and broke down exactly why he pushed to get the deal done.

“For not the biggest lad in the world he scores good headed goals, with his right foot, left foot, he can score from distance and inside the six yard box,” Higgins said. “He's got good awareness and so much to his game. I think if he was six foot two he would have never played in this league because he would be somewhere else.

“We see it as an investment and someone we can develop, and I've no doubt that Adam can kick on and once he establishes himself here, it wouldn't surprise me if he went on to another level in the coming years.”

Higgins recalled watching Brooks for Crusaders at Portadown last season and being instantly sold.

“Straight away I really liked what I was seeing,” he said. “I know he's a brilliant boy and he played out of position a lot last year, but there's no doubt in my mind that he's a top, top centre forward.

“He's very like a Robbie Keane sort of mould and that type of centre forward, and there's a lot I like about him.”

All of this sits against a backdrop of rising expectation at the Showgrounds.

Coleraine finished just three points behind eventual champions Larne last season after a storming finish. The club’s move to full-time football and increased investment has changed the conversation around them. They are no longer dark horses; they are widely viewed as one of the favourites to lift the Gibson Cup.

The history is stark. Coleraine’s only league title came in 1974. The next one, if it comes, would land in the club’s centenary year.

“To me it's trying to win the second league title in the club's history, and it would be extra-special if you could do it in the centenary year,” Higgins said.

“On a daily basis, I put myself under massive pressure and that's why we are here. We want to be part of a successful, ambitious club.”

For now, the early signs are encouraging. Higgins says he is “very lucky” and “loving” life at Coleraine, and his team have started like contenders: three wins and a draw from their opening four games, the only blemish a share of the points with Larne.

They travel to Crusaders on Saturday at 18:00 BST, looking to extend that unbeaten run and test their new recruits in one of the league’s toughest environments.

“We're obviously really happy with the start, and we're particularly happy with the three clean sheets out of four, and we're scoring goals again which is pleasing,” Higgins said.

“We're four games in, so we'll not get too excited, but the players have been fantastic and it's a joy to work with them and the staff on a daily basis.”

The commute problem is solved, the squad looks deeper, and the title talk is no longer whispered. Now comes the hard part: living up to it.