Gary Hamilton hails Glenavon following their Irish Cup win over Linfield

Glenavon boss Gary Hamilton revelled in his side's stellar Tennent's Irish Cup win over Linfield.
Glenavon celebrate after lifting the Tennent's Irish CupGlenavon celebrate after lifting the Tennent's Irish Cup
Glenavon celebrate after lifting the Tennent's Irish Cup

Goals in either half from Kevin Braniff and Andy Hall sealed a 2-0 victory at Windsor Park.

It was the Lurgan Blues lift the Irish Cup for the second time in three years following their win over Ballymena United in 2014.

“This has exceeded all my expectations,” Hamilton said.

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“The boys were incredible today and I can’t praise them enough.

“We showed great attitude and hunger and thoroughly deserved our win. To win the Irish Cup again is superb and the lads deserve all the credit.

“We have quality in this squad and they showcased that today. I think we fully deserved our win. Apart from the opening 15 or 20 minutes we dominated the game and created the better chances.”

Linfield started brightly but were hit with two sucker punches either side of the break.

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Braniff pounced to hammer home Eoin Bradley’s cross in the 45th minute to break the deadlock, with Hall adding Glenavon’s second goal three minutes after the interval.

It was a subdued performance from David Healy’s Blues as their search for a major trophy continues.

“It is hard to sum it up,” Healy said.

“It is gut-wrenching. Very disappointing.

“We started so well and had a few half chances, but overall the performance fell short of the standards expected at Linfield.

“We didn’t do enough in attack, and defensively we showed some ill-discipline. So it is very disappointing.”