Harkin still to decide

Speculation is rife the midfielder will be leaving the club once his contract expires in January.

However, speaking after Saturday’s excellent 2-0 win over Cliftonville, one of the clubs being linked with Harkin, Kearney told Times Sporthe expects the midfielder to keep to his word.

“Ruairi is out of contract in January and we are keen to speak to him,” said Kearney.

“He has a lot of other things going on at the minute in relation to his work.

“There’s a few clubs showing a bit of interest in him, I think Derry City are one and a couple of the Belfast clubs are also keen.

“I’ve known Ruairi long enough though and he has assured me that he will speak to us before he makes any decision.

“He is just not ready to sit down and have that chat in relation to his work life and everything else which is going on around it.

“So he has to sort that out first, but as I say he has assured me that once he has sorted it he will be in a position to sit down and chat.

“I trust Ruairi and at the end of the day I’ve known him long enough to believe that he’ll be a man of his word.

“Provided we get an opportunity to sit down and speak with him then that’s all we can ask for.”

The transfer window opens again on January 1st but Kearney told Times Sport he doesn’t want to stifle the development of his young players by bringing in a lot of players.

“You are always keeping an eye out for players,” said the Bannsiders boss.

“But if we can just stay where we are at or creep a wee bit further on.

“I’m so concious not to stand in the way of the young players who have made a big impression this season.

“It’s one thing giving a kid his start and now that they are finding their feet the last thing I want to do is take that opportunity away from them by bringing in another senior pro.

“So as much as it would be nice to bring a player or two in, I think we have to be really careful about how we do that.

“We are all about building a local club and everything else and we have invested a lot of time in those young players and we have to continue to do that.

Full reaction to Saturday’s win on Pages 54-55