The Blues travel to the Showgrounds intent on bolstering their title drive, five days after a heavy and demoralising defeat to Derry City.

The Setanta collapse – which saw David Jeffrey’s men fail to reach the knockout stages of the cross-border competition for the first time – has the potential to leave some unwanted scars on Linfield’s young squad.

But for experienced defender William Murphy (below), victory against the Sky Blues on Warden Street would be just the tonic to kick-start the Windsor Park outfit’s season once again.

“We are extremely disappointed with the Setanta exit, but we can’t dwell on it. I think that was our first loss against Derry City in four or five games, so we have usually performed to a high standard in the competition,” he said.

“It is the first time that we haven’t reached the knockout stages, so that adds to the disappointment.

“But it was a 3-0 drubbing and we have to move on. We have to pick ourselves up – starting with Ballymena United on Saturday.”

There is no fear of David Jeffrey pressing any panic buttons just yet.

The ebullient Blues boss has watched his transitional squad scale the heights this season, and victory today would see the champions leapfrog Crusaders – who have no game – at the top.

It has been business as usual for the Big Two giants on the domestic front, and Murphy insists the desire to retain the Gibson Cup burns as brightly as ever.

“At the end of the day the league is the main trophy we want to win, so that’s what we will be targeting in the months ahead. We want to retain our title and we won’t give that up without a fight,” the 34-year-old added.

“People say Linfield are in a transition, and David (Jeffrey) has said he is in the process of building a new team. We have a lot of young players coming into the squad who have to learn and adapt to what it is like playing for Linfield. It is a steep learning curve for most players, because everyone at the club is here to win trophies. Unfortunately we couldn’t sustain our push in the Setanta but we’ll put it behind us and concentrate on the league.

“Obviously crashing out of the Setanta is painful, and we want to go out and erase the defeat to Derry. We let everyone at the club down, and also the fans who have been superb all along.

“But there was no-one more hurt than the players.