Linfield next for Rodney McAree after 'one of the most embarrassing nights that I've had in football' with Dungannon Swifts 'garbage' final

​Dungannon Swifts boss McAree called Tuesday’s losing Mid-Ulster Senior Cup final performance “garbage” as second-tier Portadown fired five goals past the top-flight side in the face of Storm Jocelyn’s testing wind and rain.

"I thought we played a massive part in losing the game 5-2 (not the conditions),” said McAree following the final at Shamrock Park, his post-match verdict delivered against the backdrop of Portadown celebrations so audible from just yards away down the corridor in the home changing room. "The team that showed the hunger, desire and commitment won the cup final.

"Portadown fully deserved it - I take responsibility for the team I put out on the pitch.

"All I can do is apologise to the supporters...we let them down, the club down, ourselves down and anyone associated with the club down.

"We were garbage...we didn't deserve anything."

McAree is determined to turn the midweek pain game into motivation for a Saturday league trip to high-flying Linfield.

"There is a positive in that you've handed people opportunities tonight to put themselves in the picture,” he said on Tuesday. "This moment in time we now go to Linfield and I can more or less pick whoever I want and nobody can have any arguments.

"Players let themselves down, I let myself down maybe in terms of selections I made.

"But it's a clean slate going into Saturday as I can pick whoever I want.

"We're also coming into the final off the back of a 2-0 defeat (to Larne) before playing Linfield so the boys have got to show me what they can do and contribute and, unfortunately, none of them have done it."

McAree will demand greater defensive resolve in Belfast after the cup final night to forget.

"We've plenty of bodies on the pitch who can deal with corner-kicks on any other occasion - tonight the first few corners have come into the box and ended up in the back of the net,” he said. "We have to do better in those situations and show a bigger desire, it's a cup final and we didn't show enough.

"Whenever it went 3-1 you hold on to a little bit of hope at that stage but 90 seconds later we concede a shocker of a fourth goal.

"Conditions weren't good and the pitch wasn't great but Portadown played in the right areas of the pitch and we got caught trying to play in the wrong areas.

"We constantly played ourselves into problems...look at the fifth goal, we try a throw-in against the wind to our goalkeeper, it holds up and they put it in the back of the net.

"It's one of the most embarrassing nights that I've had in football as a player or as a coach.

"The rules of the competition mean you're allowed to name seven subs but only use three.

"We made three changes at half-time...if we could have made five subs - or even 10 or 11 - I would.”