Robbie McDaid grabs first Linfield goal after personal ‘baptism of fire’

It was a day David Healy’s team shrugged off the disappointment of two horrible defeats to put a smile back on the faces of their fans.

Having been eliminated from the Europa Conference League by Latvian side RFS, Linfield then lost for the first time in the Danske Bank Premiership last week when beaten by Carrick Rangers.

But the title holders bared their teeth against David Jeffrey’s Ballymena United and racked up an impressive victory - with McDaid breaking his duck since a summer move from Glentoran.

Joel Cooper shot the Blues into the lead six minutes before the break and, just before the whistle, Kirk Millar rapped in a second.

When Chris Shields slotted home a spot kick it guaranteed the points before McDaid thrilled the away support by volleying home a beauty – and how he enjoyed it.

“It was important to bounce back after the disappointment of last week’s result at Carrick,” said McDaid. “We needed a good performance and we needed three points, so we are delighted we achieved both.

“The pleasing thing for us is, we know we still have another couple of gears to go through.

“Had we been a little bit more clinical, we probably could have had a few more goals.

“Ballymena is always a tough place to visit, so it was pleasing we left with three points after a comprehensive win.

“We had some big performances throughout the team...we trained incredibly hard and incredibly well.

“We came into the game off the back of two defeats, but there was no issue with confidence.”

The grin on McDaid’s face said it all after he banged home the fourth goal.

“I enjoyed the goal; it’s been a long time coming,” said McDaid. “I’ve had to be patient...I’ve just kept my head down, working hard - I knew the goals would come.

“I’ve been getting into good positions, but every striker needs a little bit of luck at times.

“The ball just wasn’t falling for me over the last couple of weeks.

“But, for me personally, it’s been a baptism of fire (since joining Linfield) because I hadn’t really kicked a ball for close on three-and-a-half months before my move.

“To be thrown into tough European games, it was difficult to adjust.

“I was trying to get my fitness up but I knew, once I got up to speed, the goals would come.

“The lads put some great balls into the box, so it’s up to me to be there and try to put it in the back of the net.

“I’m thrilled to get off the mark and, hopefully, it’s the first of many.”

Ballymena United boss David Jeffrey couldn’t mask his disappointment and admitted his team shot themselves in the foot on more than one occasion.

“I knew that Linfield would respond to their result last week,” he said. “But to be totally transparent in my analysis, we gifted Linfield three of their goals.

“We paid the price for individual errors – they hadn’t to work hard for their goals.

“It’s something you can’t legislate for because we prepared thoroughly for this game - with long, intense training sessions, with bags of information passed on (to the players).

“We paid the price for our mistakes..for the first 39 minutes, we more than matched them.

“But individual errors presented them with two quick goals before half-time that knocked the stuffing out of us.

“To use a boxing analogy, we didn’t lay a glove on Linfield.”

BALLYMENA UNITED: O’Neill, Nelson, Redman, Whiteside, McDaid, Kelly, McElroy (Gibson, 46), Henderson (Tipton, 46), Parkhouse, Graham (Kane, 68), Place.

Subs (not used): Williamson, Loughran, Waide, Corbett.

LINFIELD: Johns, Roscoe, Shields, Callacher, Millar (Vertainen, 77), McClean (Mulgrew, 65), Cooper (McKee, 77), McDaid (Devine, 77), M.Clarke, Finlayson, Fallon (A.Clarke, 75).

Subs (not used): Walsh, Quinn.

REFEREE: Jamie Robinson.