Linfield: High praise from David Healy for Niall Quinn heading into Warrenpoint Town date

Quinn produced two impressive strikes in the 5-0 defeat of Institute, with Healy keen to highlight the importance of his overall consistency outside the end product.

Healy will be hoping to follow up a midweek cup win described by the Blues boss as “professional” with another assured display to secure league points over Warrenpoint Town.

“Niall has been one of the most consistent players in my time at the club,” said Linfield boss David Healy. “You can always rely on someone like Niall, similar to Damien Johnson, who I played with at Northern Ireland, in that he goes unnoticied.

“He’s never a three or four out of 10, in Niall’s worst game he still gives you a five or six and, like tonight, it’s an eight or nine.

“You can always count on someone like Niall and that reliability is important, especially in games like tonight.

“Teams like Institute or Warrenpoint want to play and deserve credit for never moving away from those beliefs.”

A Linfield loss earlier in the campaign arrived as the final blow in Warrenpoint’s six-game losing sequence that then sparked a five-match unbeaten run. Now Stephen McDonnell takes his side to Belfast aiming to bounce back from back-to-back defeats.

“It is important to stop falling into another lengthy run of defeats,” said McDonnell. “You look at fixtures and sometimes a point can be an excellent return.

“Against bigger clubs we must concentrate on proving hard to beat as a starting point.”