Linfield manager David Healy admits second place isn't good enough for the Blues

​Even though the Blues ended the season on a high by defeating Cliftonville at Solitude, which not only guaranteed runners-up position in the Danske Bank Premiership but booked their ticket to European football, it still fell short of what’s expected.

Goals from Jimmy Callacher and Chris Shields got Linfield over the finish line which made them the only unbeaten team in the split fixtures.

Incredibly, it was Linfield’s 60th competitive game of the season, which began back in July against TNS in the Champions League.

“It’s been a long, tough season,” said Healy. “There have been a lot of questions asked and rightly so. We weren’t the best team this season, Larne were and credit to them.

“We have no divine right to win trophy after trophy after trophy, it has to be earned. We won the League Cup and finished in second place in the table. It's not what we wanted, it’s not what we set out to achieve.

“So, it’s something we need to address, and I’ll certainly be trying to do that over the coming weeks. We’ve got a big challenge up ahead.

“Some of the squad will break up, but that’s part and parcel of football. We must now look to see what is best going forward.

“The most important thing was about getting the result we needed. It means we also avoided the carnage that comes with the Euro play-offs

“It’s not been the ideal season in terms of where we are, but one thing we do at Linfield is take our medicine. I’ve always said we are humble winners and gracious losers, but we don’t want to get used to that.

“We wanted to avoid the rigors of the play-offs. I wish Deckie (Declan O’Hara) and Cliftonville well, I’m just glad we’ll not be part of it. They can become a lottery as we all know.

“That was our 60th game of the season and, to be honest, over the last two or three games, we looked like we’d played 60 games. So, I was relieved and pleased to get the job done to keep us away from those play-offs.”

Cliftonville will go into the play-offs without Rory Hale, who was dismissed in the last minute following a horrible challenge on Kyle McClean.

On his team’s latest defeat, Declan O’Hara, in charge since Paddy McLaughlin defected to Derry City, stated: “I’m not going to criticise the lads because they emptied the tank for me.

“When you look at the two goals, one was from a set-play and the other from a penalty. I don’t like losing football games, but this game didn’t mean a lot to us – we now have more important business to attend to.

“It’s now all about the play-offs. It’s down to us, the management team, to get the boys lifted – we still have a lot to play for. We can’t afford to feel sorry for ourselves, football is a cruel game, we all know that.

“Unfortunately, we’ll not have Rory available, which is disappointing.

“I don’t know whether it was a wee rush of blood to the head or not, but I’m not going to grill him over it. He’s been great for us this season and it now gives me a headache of who will come in and replace him – he will be a big miss.”