David Healy is hungry for Irish Cup success

The Blues eased into the quarter-finals with a 5-2 win over Dungannon Swifts on Saturday.

They will now take on Loughgall in the last eight and Healy, whose side are one win away from securing the league title, is determined that they show the hunger to go on and lift the trophy.

“Without sounding or seeming arrogant we want to win the league and the Irish Cup,” he said.

“I said to the players before the game that you need to be selfish, greedy, hungry and demand of yourself.

“Yes the league is the big one and it gets you to where you want to go financially but I may never get the opportunity to go and win another Irish Cup.

“If we go out on Tuesday night you might never get another opportunity.

“We are two games away from getting to a final and three games from winning it, Tuesday night will not be dictated to by the game on Saturday against Larne for the league.

“After Tuesday night, Saturday becomes another big game for the club.

“Loughgall will be a tough game. They have obviously progressed by beating a senior club in Warrenpoint who have done well this year.

“We will not be underestimating them. Dean Smith is the manager there and he will have his players up for the tie.

“The only downside is that when you get into a quarter-final you normally have two or three weeks where you can go and watch the opposition to find out more about them.

“I’m sure we will get footage from their win over Warrenpoint and we’ll see where our players are and pick our strongest 11 to try and progress to the semi-finals.”

The Blues got off to the perfect start against Dungannon as Cahal McGinty put through his own net after some great play by Navid Nasseri.

To their credit the Swifts stuck to the game plan and levelled things up thanks to Caolin Coyle’s header.

Before the break though Stephen Fallon tapped home after great work by Conor Pepper and Andy Waterworth.

Then Waterworth took matters into his own hands with two typical striker’s finishes to all but kill the tie.

Cammy Palmer made it 5-1 before Shane McGinty scored the goal of the game in stoppage time, but it failed to take the gloss of Linfield’s victory,

“I’m pleased to get through,” said Healy afterwards. “We were aware that Dungannon would come and play and they did and as a game I thought it was a spectacle and a very good game

of football.

“The two teams were a credit to the Irish League the way they went about the game and kept the ball on the deck and played football.”

READ MORE:

Kyle Lafferty finding contentment at Kilmarnock

Retro Rewind: William Dunlop’s maiden wins at North West 200

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Irish and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Thank you,

Alistair Bushe

Editor