Former Linfield star Darren Murphy has dismissed the notion that winning the Premiership for a seventh time this season would stand as David Healy’s greatest Blues achievement with equal value placed on each triumph.

A large majority of pre-season predictions tipped Coleraine or Larne for Gibson Cup glory – the pair entered priced as favourites with bookmakers – but Healy’s men are setting the early Premiership pace.

After beating Coleraine on Saturday, Linfield sit a point clear at the top and have put together a 14-game unbeaten league run ahead of travelling to Ballymena United, who handed them a shock 3-0 defeat on the opening day.

Healy has won six league titles across 11 years at Windsor Park alongside four BetMcLean Cups, two Irish Cups and a Co Antrim Shield.

placeholder image — David Healy celebrates winning his second league title in 2019 - Linfield had finished fourth the season before. (Photo by INPHO/Brian Little)

The Northern Ireland legend has reigned supreme in 354 of 566 matches in charge with his teams scoring more than 1,100 goals – Linfield’s goal difference is +609 across Healy’s tenure.

Roy Coyle and David Jeffrey are widely considered as two of the Irish League’s greatest all-time managers with both winning 31 trophies each at Linfield.

Lifting another league title this term would further close Healy’s gap on the legendary pair – Coyle collected 10 and Jeffrey nine at the Blues – and Murphy believes he belongs in conversations alongside the greats.

"I think they’re all great achievements, they all sit equally for me,” Murphy told the News Letter on Healy. “I look at the one we won when I first went in (as assistant) in 2018.

"The year previous to that, Linfield had finished fourth, hadn't qualified for Europe and hadn't won a trophy, which was unheard of.

"You went into the following season under immense pressure, but ended up delivering back-to-back league titles.

"There's always a challenge at Linfield. I look at all the league titles that Linfield have won over David's tenure, there's always been a challenge.

"To wrestle it back (in 2025) was phenomenal, this year coming into it, starting the way they did, but then they go on this run.

"The slight advantage, not massive, David has is he has been around the block and been in all these difficult situations at Linfield.

"To have won six league titles in 10 years in a changing landscape, it's definitely right up there with lots of the greats.

"I think he sits quite comfortably in the conversations around Roy Coyle and David Jeffrey, two men that brought so much success to Linfield.

"David certainly deserves to be spoke about in that conversation when you look at how hard it's been for him."

It’s still anticipated there’ll be a three-way battle for Premiership glory this season and Murphy is excited to watch the race unfold.

"You've got three teams at the minute that are well capable of winning it,” added Murphy. “The other games always take care of themselves.

"It's the big games and the fine margins, that wee bit of quality, taking the opportunity when it comes along.

"David will have all that fine tuned and his homework done, he certainly will. His preparation towards games is astonishing, the amount of detail and work he puts into it.

“All teams in our league are competitive, it's competitive right across the board...it’s going where we all want it to and long may that continue.”