Third time's the charm for Linfield as glorious strike seals Minor section success at SuperCupNI

The Blues secured the spoils as Tom Lyness’ stunning effort proved to be enough to edge out United in front of a good crowd on the Ballycastle Road.

Linfield had lost back-to-back finals in recent years to Crusaders and Cliftonville but there would be no heartache this time around.

They more than deserved their first half lead when Lyness struck from distance, although the Sky Blues provided more goal threat after the restart and hit the post through Lucas Henry’s attempt.

But Linfield held firm to cap off a memorable week and get their hands on the coveted prize for the first time.

"As a club we're just super proud of them,” said Linfield coach Louis Simpson.

"Super proud of all the teams that have come before and done what they've done and it's just third time lucky to get over the line.

"The boys wanted to go out and they wanted to be history makers, they wanted to be the first team at Linfield to go and win this tournament.

"They've come so close the last two years and it was just getting that extra wee push over the line and credit to the boys, they went and did it, they were excellent.”

Lyness strike was worthy to win any contest and Simpson was pleased that his side managed to keep the back door shut and keep United at bay towards the latter stages of the final.

He added: “It was always going to be nervy, it was always going to be difficult as Ballymena are a very, very good side.

“There was going to be pressure on our guys at some stage, the boys knew that the Ballymena were going to come out and come at them in that second half and I think they just showed the other side of their game.

"I was confident when they were 1-0 up, I was confident they were going to defend and do everything they needed to do, so I’m really proud of them.”

Linfield manager David Healy and Ballymena counterpart Oran Kearney were interested spectators for the game.

But does Simpson think any of his side’s players can make the breakthrough at some stage in their careers?

“There's eight teams that have came here this week and there's a lot of teams that didn't qualify that would be more than capable of coming to this tournament and showcasing their own qualities, so it's hard enough to qualify,” he continued.

"It's hard enough then to come into the tournament just with the quality over this country.

"There's excellent, excellent teams all across this country so I think it's a credit to these boys that they've gone and done what they've done.

"The sky's the limit for these boys, they've got a bit of everything, they've got all the technical ability, they've got the skills but this week especially just to show the attitude.

"These boys have the attitude that if they really want to, the sky's the limit for them.”