David Healy praises Linfield youngsters and reflects on 'emotional' moment as sons of the late Paul Butler lead Blues on lap of honour at Windsor Park

The former Northern Ireland international striker again reshuffled his pack for the weekend clash with Dungannon Swifts at Windsor Park, making a staggering nine changes, but it ended with the usual outcome – another three points following a 2-0 victory.

Goals from Charlie Allen and Josh Archer helped the Blues rack up their 27th win of the league campaign, which heralded a record-extending 57th title success.

With the shackles off, Healy again let loose several of his young guns – and they didn’t disappoint.

With only two fixtures remaining – at Larne and Coleraine – Healy admits he is now faced with a selection dilemma.

“Some of them (the players) are chomping at the bit to impresses," said Healy. "We’ve won our three split games so far, we’ll be looking to make it four before we go to Coleraine in the final match.

“We face Larne on Friday, and they are fighting for European qualification, we will remain as professional as we can.

“There will be changes, no doubt, but in the mindset of the players, which was again evident against Dungannon, no matter who is in the team, they are more than capable of winning the game."

Healy saluted the performance of defensive young guns Dane McCullough and Ryan McKay.

“Dane was excellent,” added Healy. “John McGovern is a player who has been lighting up the league this season; he’s been linked with several clubs already, potentially Shamrock Rovers.

“I thought Dane handled him manfully. Anything John did, Dane certainly took care of him.

"He was helped by young Ryan at left-back. His energy levels were great. He tired near the end, which was normal when you play in a wing-back role.

“I thought both players’ level of performance was excellent and their time on the ball was very good.”

Being the final home game of the season, the Blues saluted their fans at the finish, parading the Gibson Cup, carried on to the pitch by the sons of the club’s late physiotherapist Paul Butler, who tragically passed away earlier this season.

“We had a little trophy celebration at the end with Trevor Butler, Paul’s father,” said Healy. “The two young boys were Oliver and Jacob, Paul’s two young sons.

“The family were away last week, but we wanted to do that for them.

"They are never far away from my thoughts and the staff and the players. Naturally, it was emotional for everyone because Paul meant the world to us all.”

Dungannon Swifts boss Rodney McAree admitted his boys froze on the day.

“Defensively, we looked suspect, and we didn’t really get to grips with the game,” he said. “I think the first goal reflected that.

"Allen had a few bites at it before he scored.

“The second goal was something similar. Ultimately, Linfield wanted to put it into the back of our net more than we wanted to keep it out of the net.

“We gave the ball away cheaply at times; we went long too often. It certainly wasn’t like us, and we looked like we were just playing out the game.

“That performance was probably the only the performance of the season that looked like the Dungannon of old. It wasn’t good enough and it can’t be acceptable.

“We expect better...we expect better performances, unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”