Irish Cup Final: 45 years of hurt ends for Cliftonville

With a swipe of Ronan Hale’s trusty right boot, Cliftonville exorcised the ghosts of the last 45 years in the Irish Cup.

The striker’s stunning finish early in the first period of extra-time at Windsor Park put Jim Magilton’s side in front for the first time in the match.

Then with practically the last kick of the 120 minutes, he strolled towards the Kop end and an empty Linfield goal to roll the ball home to put the cherry on top of the icing on the cake for Jim Magilton’s men and the club who have longed for this trophy since 1979.

They had to do it after going behind early on AND losing goalkeeper David Odumosu, plus seeing Odhran Casey stretchered off with a suspected broken ankle right on half-time of normal time.

It was Linfield who had the opening opportunity of the match as Chris McKee’s low shot was dealt with by Cliftonville goalkeeper David Odumosu.

But he could do nothing about the opening goal just before the quarter hour.

Odhran Casey gave away a free-kick wide on the Linfield right and when Kirk Millar whipped it in, Ethan McGee rose above everyone to power home a bullet header that gave Odumosu no chance.

It was no more than Healy’s side deserved as they had taken control of the game right from the outset.

Cliftonville really should have levelled on 25 minutes, with their first real chance of the half.

Captain Rory Hale curled a delightful diagonal ball into the box, but somehow both Ronan Hale and Sam Ashford were both unable to get on the end of it as it sailed out for a goal kick.

Cliftonville were then dealt a blow eight minutes before the break when Odumosu had to go off injured. He had picked up a knock in an earlier collision with Joel Cooper and had tried to continue, but to no avail.

Things got even worse for the Reds on the injury front when Casey went down awkwardly under an innocuous challenge and spent a number of minutes receiving oxygen on the pitch before being stretchered off. He was replaced for the second half by Luke Kenny.

Despite Linfield almost doubling their lead three minutes after the restart, only for a superb Sean Stewart block denying Kirk Millar’s goalbound shot, it was the side from North Belfast who levelled shortly afterwards.

Captain Rory Hale swung in an inch-perfect cross from the right-hand side and Sam Ashford manoeuvred his way between two Linfield defenders to guide a precision header past the helpless Chirs Johns.

A chance at each end came and went in quick succession just past the midway point of the second period.

After Jonny Addis headed wide for Cliftonville, Linfield's Joel Cooper rifled his shot just past the post. But neither side could find a winner in the remaining stages, despite Cliftonville arguably looking the most likely.

And it took them less than a minute of the first period of extra-time to go in front for the first time with a stunning Ronan Hale strike.

The forward collected the ball down the left flank and cut in onto his right foot before unleashing a vicious effort from just inside the box that flew past the outstretched hands of Chris Johns.

It was a strike worthy of winning any game.

Despite Linfield pushing for an equaliser for the remainder of extra-time, Cliftonville dealt with everything they had to throw at them and they rounded off things in fine style deep into stoppage time in extra-time.

As Linfield had everyone in and around the Cliftonville box, including goalkeeper Chris Johns, the ball broke to Ronan Hale inside his own area. He celebrated from around 40 yards out before slotting the ball into the unguarded net to round off a famous victory.

MATCH STATS

Cliftonville: Odumosu (Gartside 37), Pepper (Curran 88), Stewart (Mallon 72), Casey (Kenny H-T), Addis, Burns, Doherty, Rory Hale (C) (Gordon 108), Kearney, Ronan Hale, Ashford (Wilson 88)

Sub not used: Gormley

Linfield: Johns, Finlayson (Finlayson 97), Shields, Hall, McGee (Clarke 90+4), Millar, Cooper, McClean, Mulgrew (C) (Archer 77), Fitzpatrick (Annett 105), McKee (Graham 77)

Subs not used: Walsh (GK), Doherty

Referee: Jamie Robinson

Attendance: 14,898

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