Manager happy with Craig Cup victory

"Although Strabane gave us a bit of a game it was pretty comfortable for us in the end," he said.

"We were a little sloppy at times and that wasn't the most pleasing but we did create plenty of chances.

"On days like this we are there to be shot at and they would have been looking to do to us what we did to Coleraine.

"Tobermore tried to do the same in the last round too but we coped well with what they threw at us on Saturday."

Even though United scored five goals Kearney had praise for the opposition and the way they played.

"In reality these are no win situations for us. We are expected to win comfortably and when you do it's unremarkable.

"If we had only won by one goal then they would have taken the plaudits and we would have been criticised.

"Thankfully we did what we needed to do in this game and avoided any potential banana skin.

"Five – two is a good win for us and in fact we probably could have won by a few more as well."

With such a good result the United boss felt his side coped well with what Strabane threw at them.

"We were on a hiding to nothing and they came at us because they really had nothing to lose in.

"They came at us, put it up to us and gave us exactly what we expected them to do.

"They didn't lie down at all and you would expect them to battle to the end and that's what they did.

"In the end however our superior fitness and quality showed through and we were comfortable winners."

After crashing out at the semi-final stage last season, which is something Kearney, will be looking to avoid this season.

"Last season we rotated the players more for this competition than we have done this season.

"We had a bigger squad last season and that was to try and keep all the players fit and as sharp as possible.

"We maybe changed too many things last season and we ended up with egg on our faces after the semi-final result.

"Obviously every competition you are in you want to win and this one will be no different from any other," concluded Kearney.