Joel Cooper hoping BetMcLean Cup final goal can act as a catalyst for him and Linfield to end season on a high

Cooper's cool finish past Coleraine goalkeeper Gareth Deane proved to be an important breakthrough for David Healy's men in what was an edgy affair up to that point.

This is the 27-year-old's first full season back in the Irish League after he moved to Sky Bet League One club Oxford United from the Blues in July 2020 and also spent a period on-loan at Port Vale before returning to Windsor Park.

He has netted seven times and provided six assists in 26 league appearances so it's hardly been a poor campaign, but Cooper has high expectations for himself and is looking to get back to performing at the peak of his powers once again.

“The first goal is always important in cup finals," he said. "It settles you but Coleraine came back into it and we had to withstand a bit of pressure.

“It is important to get that first goal and it put us in a good position for the rest of the second half. Thankfully we were able to go on and see the game off.

“When the chance comes, usually it’s just instinct. But this time I was debating chipping him and then at the last minute I took a glance up and he hadn’t committed as much as I thought he was going to, so I just aimed for the side.

"I’m glad I didn’t try to chip him now!

“I try not to think too much about my own form. There were a lot of games at the start with Europe which didn’t help (Linfield were knocked out of the Europa Conference League at the final stage of qualifying by Latvian side RFS), but I don’t like using excuses.

“I’ve been up and down this season – some weeks I’ve played well and some weeks I’ve been poor.

“It’s days like this when you really want to play well but I still think there’s more in me.

“Hopefully going forward I can get that level of consistency I’ve had before."

This cup success is a bright spark in a season that has stuttered at times for Linfield and Cooper says the overriding emotion when the final whistle blew was one of relief.

“I know the gaffer said about relief, and the boys feel like that too," he added.

"If we didn’t win there would be more pressure on us but hopefully it gives us more belief now going into the last seven games.

“The season has been frustrating. We never really gave ourselves a chance.

"In years gone by it was people chasing us but this year we’ve given ourselves a hard, hard task.

“We had a run of games when we were closing the gap, then we were back to where we started.

"I don’t like using Europe as an excuse because it was so long ago but the entire league has gotten closer.

“Europe may have harmed our belief but I don’t like saying that - as a group of players we need to do more in these games.

“Winning trophies never gets old and never gets boring. We want to keep pushing because we know the position we’re in the league.

"If we win seven games and don’t win the league we can’t be too disappointed with how we finished the season."