IRISH LEAGUE: Healy hopes Shield prize is the first of many as Linfield boss

Northern Ireland’s record goal-scorer collected his first trophy as Linfield manager with the 3-1 County Antrim Shield final win over 10-man Crusaders.

Now he wants nights like those to again become par for the course round Windsor way.

“People will say this is the least important trophy but I hope it will be the most important one because it gives my players the belief that they can go and match Crusaders,” he said.

“I hope in years to come, for the club, it is more. This is a collective thing and I hope it means more to the club.

“(The County Antrim Shield) was David Jeffrey’s first trophy, it was Roy Coyle’s first trophy and if you’re anywhere near some of the success that those guys have, you’ll do alright.”

The result means it’s first blood to Linfield in the tussle for titles. Now the Blues boss is wondering if it can fire his players to reel in league leading Crusaders and oust Stephen Baxter’s side in the Irish Cup quarter-final.

“We needed to prove to ourselves that we’re capable and we did that,” he said. “Take any decisions out of it and we were the better team.

“We went in to the finals last year and people were saying we hadn’t got over the line in a few years. I remember hurting after the County Antrim Shield defeat and the same after the Irish Cup final.

“Hopefully the players have that extra special feeling now and they want to go on and win things. A few of our players seemed a bit unsure how to celebrate because we haven’t done it for a while.

“Hopefully it’s the first of many.”