Higgins caps year in charge with 'emotional' cup win

2 May 2025 - Ruaidhri Higgins appointed manager of Coleraine. 2 May 2026 - Higgins guides the Bannsiders to a first Irish Cup win in eight years with a 3-2 victory over Dungannon Swifts in the final. It has been quite the year in charge of Coleraine for Higgins, and he capped it off in the best way possible, by bringing the Irish Cup back to the north coast for the first time since 2018.

The Bannsiders held their nerve to edge out the holders following a thrilling final at Windsor Park to complete what has been a good first season at the helm for the boss and his newly assembled squad. They won all five games in the split to finish second on 80 points and secure European football for the first time since 2022 and topped it off with a cup victory in a breathless final against the Swifts. Higgins is now only the second manager to win the Irish Cup and FAI Cup following his success with Derry City in 2022.

Speaking after the game, the 41-year-old admitted it was difficult to compare the two wins but that the Irish Cup was "very different" given recent grief he has had to work through. Higgins' brother Kevin died suddenly in 2023 after he suffered a heart attack in his adopted home of Sweden. His mother Mary passed away in 2025 shortly after he took up the manager's job at Coleraine following an illness and he shared an emotional embrace with his father at full-time in Windsor Park.

"My personal life has changed dramatically since I was manager at Derry and we won the FAI Cup in 2022. From my family's point of view, it's been hell really, so I think all the emotions after today was just thinking straight away about my family," he said. "That was my first trophy as a manager in 2022 so naturally, you're absolutely buzzing, but then winning today just brings out all different kinds of emotions and I'm really happy for these boys as well because as they deserve it.