Linfield ease past Ballymena to set up Irish Cup Final vs Larne

Linfield have reached the Irish Cup Final after an inspired performance from Shayne Lavery saw them beat Ballymena United 3-0 in the semi-final at Mourneview Park.

The Blues dominated the early exchanges before taking the lead in the 19th minute through Stephen Fallon. Lavery used his explosive pace to create the opening down the left, driving into the Ballymena box before steering the ball into the path of midfielder Fallon to stab home from close range.

It was a rare moment of real quality in a low-key first half, but Linfield could perhaps have scored a second before the intervals as Joel Cooper enjoyed a couple of promising moments down the left that eventually came to nothing.

Just 3 and half minutes after the break, Lavery put Linfield into a commanding position by grabbing the decisive second goal. Ballymena's Josh Kelly under hit a pass back to his keeper, and Lavery's speed saw him steal possession and finish calmly into an empty net.

Cooper crashed a close range effort off the post on 55 as Linfield went in search of a third, with Ballymena's McElroy heading against the crossbar shortly after as the Sky Blues tried to battle their way back into the game.

However, it was Linfield who got the next goal to completely kill off the tie as Lavery diverted Jimmy Callacher's header into the net to make it 3-0 in the 63rd minute.

David Healy's side will meet Larne in Friday night's final, after they got past Crusaders in a controversial penalty shootout to win their semi. The game had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, and Crues keeper Jonny Tuffey was then sent off after being judged to have stepped off his line 3 times to make penalty saves.