Paul Kee chasing a striker to help fill the void left by Brian Healy at H&W Welders

The Championship outfit reached the last eight after scoring three second half goals to beat Ballymacash Rangers at the Blanchflower Stadium.

The hosts had to wait until the 71st minute to edge ahead when Ethan Devine was in the right place at the right time to convert from close range.

Devine then doubled his and the Welders’ tally seven minutes later with another clinical finish, with the tie then put beyond doubt when Caolan Murphy netted at the second time of asking to seal the 3-0 win.

When asked about his side’s run in the Irish Cup so far, Welders boss Kee told BBC Radio Ulster’s Sportsound programme: “It's a distraction from the league and we're able to kind of use players in the competition as well.

“We gave two or three players debuts today, which was good.

"We signed a couple in January time after losing Brian Healy to Cliftonville and they were cup tied, so the fact that young Caolan Murphy, for example, who we actually brought from Glenavon, who scored a debut goal today, which is good for him.

"Cup competitions can provide that for the players.”

The Welders were drawn away to holders Dungannon Swifts in the next round, and despite wishing the tie was at home, Kee is expecting a “good spectacle".

He also revealed he is looking a striker to boost his hopes of earning promotion to the top-flight next season.

“Oh, difficult game,” he replied when asked for his thoughts on facing the Swifts.

"We obviously would have preferred a home draw, but obviously Rodney McAree’s got a real good thing going there at Dungannon and they play excellent football, so hopefully, it'll be a good spectacle and we can give a good account of ourselves.

"If we're lucky enough to get another contract striker somewhere, then we'll keep looking, but we just couldn't find somebody that was suitable and obviously within our range.

"Losing Brian (Healy) was a big loss because he was scoring a goal every game.”