Coleraine's Season Shift: McMenamin Out, Thomson and Brooks In

Ruaidhri Higgins had barely finished posing with his manager-of-the-month award when the question came, the one that has shadowed Coleraine’s bright start to the season.

Conor McMenamin. In, then out. Coleraine to Glentoran in the space of 10 weeks.

Higgins didn’t flinch.

“Sometimes in football and just life in general, things don't go as expected or according to plan,” he said. “We’ve come to this conclusion and I think it's best for everyone.”

McMenamin out, Thomson in

McMenamin’s move to the Oval stunned plenty in the Irish Premiership. The Northern Ireland winger had only arrived from St Mirren in June, billed as a marquee addition for a Coleraine side stepping into full-time football and chasing a first league title since 1974.

By the end of the window, he was gone. Glentoran-bound. Joe Thomson heading the other way to the Showgrounds.

McMenamin, speaking after the switch, admitted “it wasn't meant to be” at Coleraine. Higgins didn’t argue. There was no dressing it up, no attempt to force a fit that wasn’t there.

"It's certainly not a personal issue with Conor at all," he stressed.

The reality was more mundane, and more human. McMenamin, 31, was never able to commit to relocating from Downpatrick to the north coast. The daily grind of a 75-mile, 90-minute commute each way weighed heavily, with family and personal matters front and centre.

For a club pushing the intensity of full-time work, Higgins knew that wasn’t viable.

The commute, he admitted, was “not sustainable”. The pair spoke regularly over recent weeks. The answer kept coming back the same.

It was time to move him on.

Thomson brings bite and balance

If McMenamin’s exit grabbed the headlines, Thomson’s arrival could prove just as important to Coleraine’s season.

With Mark Coyle and Rowan McDonald both injured, Higgins was light in the middle of the park. The Bannsiders needed legs, aggression, and someone willing to do the hard yards between both boxes.

“Joe is so different to the players that we have. He plays with an edge and he has a goal in him,” said Higgins, who knows the midfielder 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."

Thomson joins a midfield group that already includes the craft of Will Patching and the energy of Dylan Boyle. On paper, it looks more balanced now than it did when McMenamin first walked through the door.

The deadline-day narrative might have centred on one winger leaving and one midfielder arriving. Higgins’ gaze was already drifting higher up the pitch.

Brooks the big swing in attack

While phones buzzed and social media followed the McMenamin-Thomson axis, Coleraine quietly pulled off another significant deal: Adam Brooks from Crusaders.

If that felt like a side note at the time, Higgins’ words suggest it is anything but.

The 22-year-old Scot, once on the books at Celtic, had started the new campaign sharply at Seaview. Often used out wide last season, he still managed to catch the eye. This term he exploded with a hat-trick against Portadown in a 3-2 win.

Higgins had seen enough long before that.

He had been tracking Brooks for a while, convinced there was a centre forward waiting to be unleashed.

"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.”

Then came the line that said most about how highly he rates him.

“I think if he was six foot two he would have never played in this league because he would be somewhere else.”

To Higgins, Brooks is not a stop-gap. He is an investment.

“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 remembers watching him for Crusaders at Portadown last season and being sold almost instantly.

“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."

The comparison is bold. The belief behind it is clear.

Pressure, expectation and a centenary target

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

Coleraine finished just three points behind eventual champions Larne last season after a powerful surge in the run-in. With increased investment and the switch to full-time football, they are no longer plucky outsiders. They are among the favourites for the Gibson Cup.

The timing adds another layer. Coleraine’s only league title arrived in 1974. A second 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."

He sounds like a man who understands exactly what he has walked into. And exactly what he wants out of it.

Unbeaten start, bigger tests ahead

For now, the numbers are kind. Higgins has Coleraine unbeaten after four league games, with three wins and a draw – the stalemate coming against champions Larne.

Three clean sheets from four. Goals flowing again. A manager who says he is “very lucky” and “loving” being at the club.

"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," he said.

Then came the check on the enthusiasm.

"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."

Next up is a trip to Crusaders on Saturday evening, a swift reunion with the club that just supplied Brooks and a sharper test of Coleraine’s early resolve.

McMenamin has gone. Thomson and Brooks are in. The squad has shifted, the expectations haven’t.

If this really is the season Coleraine chase that second title, nights like the one at Seaview will tell whether Higgins’ reshaped side are built to last.