Linfield replicated their end of season celebrations from 12 months ago as they lifted their second trophy in the space of a week, defeating Crusaders 4-1 in Saturday’s Irish Cup final.
The past seven days have been somewhat of a rollercoaster for Linfield. Their Setanta Cup campaign came to a painful end, their Irish Cup semi-final tie has been thrown into further doubt, while they also took another massive step closer to regaining their Irish League title.
This time a year ago Linfield were level with Crusaders, albeit with a game in hand, and faced a difficult run in where they had to play every team in the top half at least once, with a potentially league-deciding match at Seaview.
The past seven days encompassed Linfield kicking off their Setanta Cup campaign with a draw against Derry City and going on to extend their lead at the top of the Carling Premiership five days later.
There was no fixture for Linfield in the past seven days, due to Coleraine participating in the League Cup final – the Blues’ trip up north took place last night (Tuesday).
Linfield spoiled Glenn Ferguson’s first match in charge of Ballymena United by beating the Sky Blues 2-1 at the Showgrounds on Saturday afternoon. Peter Thompson continued his goal scoring spree by netting both of the away side’s goals either side of Allan Jenkins’ long-range strike for Ballymena.
