Staying in top flight a career best for Kearney

ORAN KEARNEY tried to savour the ‘biggest achievement’ of his career last night as St Mirren maintained their Premiership status by holding their nerve in a penalty shoot-out. But the Paisley side’s manager admitted he needs a break before he starts to look towards next season — amid constant speculation linking him with a return to Coleraine. ‘It’s the biggest achievement of my career, absolutely,’ Kearney said. ‘I’ve won cups but the journey we had to go on this year — I came into a club where I didn’t know anyone. ‘You are building relationships at a steady rate of knots to try and make something function really quickly. ‘It’s been a trying and testing year but, when I signed up, I knew it was going to be like that. ‘I’m delighted to get over the line today and now I’m just looking forward to a rest. ‘I’m heading back home, our kids are on holiday over there, so we’ll go away. ‘I’m not looking forward to it (the new season) at all at the minute! I’m near past myself. ‘When the dust settles and

we get time to reflect, the building for next season will start quickly. ‘We are a couple of weeks behind everyone else because our season has gone on that bit longer. We have a lot of work to do very quickly. But it’s so important at moments like this to soak up what just happened because football can pass you by. ‘By all accounts, St Mirren never do things the easy way. It was always going to the wire. The raw emotion at the end, people flooding on to the pitch, you can’t buy that.’ Kearney also felt that his goalkeeper, Vaclav Hladky, was ready for a day in the spotlight. ‘You get that gut feeling when it goes to penalties,’ said the Irishman. ‘Vaclav has had a tough time recently. Sometimes you just feel things are written in the stars. ‘I was very confident when it went to penalties. I felt he had the big saves in him. I’m delighted for him. That performance probably puts him down in history.’ Dundee United boss Robbie Neilson was left contemplating the Tannadice side’s fourth successive campaign in the Championship. United goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist left the pitch in tears as the Simple Digital Arena was awash with jubilant St Mirren fans and Neilson could only lament the lottery of a penalty shoot-out. ‘It’s the cruellest way to lose a game,’ said the United boss. ‘The teams were evenly matched over the games and in extra-time. Ultimately, somebody has to lose. ‘We’ll use this as motivation next season. There is pressure on these penalties. After we missed our first one, it gives them a lift. We practised for the semi-final and for this game. There’s a different pressure when it’s the real thing. ‘But there’s no point in sitting here talking about penalties now. It’s done and dusted.’ Despite the failure, Neilson is optimistic that there is encouragement to draw for the manner in which United took it to the wire. ‘The club has woken again. It was in slumber,’ he said. ‘The new owner is desperate to do well and the fans are coming back. ‘The club is being run properly, things are getting done right and the fans don’t have to worry about that any more. ‘Today’s a big disappointment but if you look at the bigger picture things are positive. ‘We invested in January and the budget for players in the summer won’t change hugely as a result of staying in the Championship.’