Rory Hale's pitchside tribute to fans, brother and manager as Cliftonville win Irish Cup

By Patrick Van Dort
Published 4th May 2024, 18:01 BST
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Rory Hale walked away with the Man of the Match prize on Saturday after helping Cliftonville end the club’s 45-year wait for Irish Cup glory.

Ethan McGee put Linfield into the lead in front of almost 15,000 fans but Sam Ashford levelled off an assist by Hale.

Hale’s brother, Ronan, fired an extra-time goal double to secure a 3-1 win for Cliftonville.

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Rory Hale spoke to BBC Sport NI following the final whistle and delivered his thoughts as follows:

Rory Hale (centre) was named 'Man of the Match' for his sparkling performance in Cliftonville's 3-1 win over Linfield to secure Clearer Water Irish Cup final glory. (INPHO/PressEye/Stephen Hamilton)Rory Hale (centre) was named 'Man of the Match' for his sparkling performance in Cliftonville's 3-1 win over Linfield to secure Clearer Water Irish Cup final glory. (INPHO/PressEye/Stephen Hamilton)
Rory Hale (centre) was named 'Man of the Match' for his sparkling performance in Cliftonville's 3-1 win over Linfield to secure Clearer Water Irish Cup final glory. (INPHO/PressEye/Stephen Hamilton)

ON WINNING THE IRISH CUP...

"Brilliant - amazing day, amazing performance...fair play to every single player, that was some shift.

"Look at that for a crowd today, even though I came off with cramp that extra singing, the push...it gives the boys an extra 10 per cent.

"We were dropping like flies in extra-time but you could just see the crowd getting us rallied up again - outstanding.

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"That's why they (Linfield) are up there with the best teams in the country.

"I always say at the start of the season if you finish above Linfield you'll win the league, they're the team to get at.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game (as) underdogs but we knew there was going to be a good gameplan from Jim (Magilton, manager) and it paid off.

ON THE ‘MAN OF THE MATCH’ AWARD...

"That's my game...if I wasn't everywhere you'd know there was something up with me.

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"I knew I had to put in a hell of a shift first, that's my game, then the quality on the ball comes second.

ON HIS BROTHER...

"Brilliant, brilliant...I thought he would've pipped me to man of the match, I thought he was outstanding and led the line brilliantly.

"He won his flick-ons and held it up well then his goal for the second was just that's what he does out of nothing, he can bring that down and put that in the top bins.

ON HIS MANAGER...

"We've had great years under Paddy (McLaughlin) but I think just a bit of belief, Jim (Magilton) has come into the league with fresh ideas.

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"He doesn't care who we play against and I love it cos I'm similar...we're going to go out and have a go and if it means we get tanked, we get tanked.

"But we're going out to play football and we're going out to have go."

Related topics:CliftonvilleLinfield

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