The 40-year-old Northern Irishman was appointed manager in September, signing a three-year contract.

He kept St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership after a play-off win over Dundee United, having finished 11th.

But chief executive Tony Fitzpatrick had to play down suggestions that Kearney could return to Coleraine.

The St Mirren manager commutes back and forth from Paisley to Ballymoney in his homeland, where his wife and family still live.

And his former club, Coleraine, continue to search for a new manager more than six weeks after the sacking of his successor, Rod McAree.

The Northern Ireland Football League Premiership outfit confirmed last week that they had failed in a bid to bring in Dundalk assistant Ruaidhri Higgins and that they had turned their attention to other candidates.

St Mirren, who begin pre-season training on Monday, are set to play Coleraine in a pre-season friendly on Saturday.

If Kearney does leave St Mirren, they would be looking for their tenth manager in just over nine years.

He was first interviewed for the job last summer, but the Paisley club appointed Alan Stubbs instead before turning to the Northern Irishman after a poor start to the season.

Former Buddies manager Gus MacPherson left his job as Queen's Park head coach to assist Kearney as technical director in September, while Northern Ireland assistant Jimmy Nicholl was appointed first-team coach in November.

However, the latter departed St Mirren to become James McPake's assistant with Dundee in May after their relegation to the Championship.