Coleraine and Cliftonville all set for Irish Cup showpiece final
Windsor Park hosting sporting spectacle tomorrow
One of the most eagerly anticipated dates in Northern Ireland’s sporting calendar, takes place tomorrow at Windsor Park.
Danske Bank Premiership runners-up, Coleraine will take on Cliftonville in the final of the Irish Cup.
Ahead of the massive fixture, Downtown & Cool FM have been catching up with both camps.
Bannsiders boss Oran Kearney said his players have put the disappointment of losing the league title on the last day of the season to Crusaders.
And they are all set for Saturday, given their form in training.
“The way they arrived, the buzz, the hype and particularly the quality of the training session was right up through the roof,” he said.
“So for me I have got all the signs that I need to know that we are ready to go for Saturday.”
Coleraine last won the Cup in 2003 and lost to Linfield in the 2017 showpiece.
Kearney said they had come a long way together but winning a trophy was vital to their ongoing development as a team.
“When we finally got the Cup semi-finals it was about breaking that duck and getting to a final – you could call that a ladder if you want and we have moved jup those rungs of the ladder.
“And I said to the players the next rung of the ladder is to put silverward on the table and when we do that I think it will be the first of many.”
Kearney also revealed that their number of fans had doubled and described them as “phenomenal”.
Meanwhile, it has been 39 years since Cliftonville’s name was on the trophy.
In the 1979 final they beat Portadown 3-2 – with Tony Bell’s famous late strike ensuring the Cup came to Solitude.
Assistant boss, Harry Fay, said they were determined to re-write the history books.
“It has to be difficult for the players but you have to try and put that all to one side,” he said.
“The bottom line is that the suits and everything else mean nothing unless you win that Cup – you have to win that Cup.”
But he warned about being overawed by the occasion.
“The Irish Cup final is a massive day and it can be over just like that the key think is to try and treat like a normal game and go out and play the game – so that is the angle we are coming at,” he added.
The final kicks off at Windsor Park tomorrow at 2.30pm.