David Healy confident Linfield will 'come back a little stronger' after 'sickening' Irish Cup exit

The Blues were knocked out of Northern Ireland’s premier cup competition following Ryan McNickle’s early strike – the Ballymena United loanee shooting into an empty net from distance after being played through by Stephen Lowry.

Healy’s men missed a first half penalty and applied late pressure with ex-Coleraine goalkeeper Martin Gallagher forced into a couple of fine saves, but Paul Owens’ side ultimately sealed progression into the Irish Cup’s last-eight.

With their Premiership title defence almost certainly over due to leaders Larne opening up a 16-point advantage on fourth-placed Linfield, the only remaining silverware up for grabs is the BetMcLean Cup – the Blues will face Glentoran in the showpiece decider at Windsor Park next month.

Linfield’s worrying trend in front of goal continued against Limavady with Healy’s side scoring one goal or less in six of their last seven matches across all competitions.

They’ve now been eliminated from the Irish Cup at the sixth round stage in four of the last five seasons – Linfield reached the final in 2023/24 – but Healy believes his side can bounce back.

"Gut wrenching and sickening,” he told BBC Sport NI. "Firstly, congratulations to Limavady and Paul and, as disappointed as I am, we can't afford to miss the opportunities we did in the final third.

"We lacked intelligence, a bit of quality and our decision-making was wrong. Our attitude in the first half wasn't quite there, in the second half we changed it slightly and didn't quite get the desired outcome. Hugely frustrating.

"You always feel in the situation and a result like tonight that you let everyone down, I wish I could have done more. One thing that I will do is get the team together, come back a little stronger.

"I have been in situations like this before when sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. Sometimes you have to take a few hits along the way.”