Healy will take 'Stute 'very seriously'

Irish Cup Quarter Final   |   Institute vs. Linfield

Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium   |   Sunday, 1pm

Linfield boss David Healy has shown Institute the utmost respect ahead of Sunday’s Clearer Water Irish Cup quarter-final, which takes place at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, on Sunday (KO 1.30pm).

The Blues gaffer has seen the Drumahoe club three times this season and is expecting a tough test against Kevin Deery’s side.

Healy was an interesting spectator at the Brandywell a few weeks ago to see the Waterside men lose 4-2 to Championship leaders Dundela, but like many in attendance that day, he felt the home side should have been out of sight in that game.

“I’ve seen Stute three times this year,” he explained. “Firstly, down in Dundela when the game was abandoned at half-time and then I went to that replay match, which they ended up winning that game and I saw them a couple of weeks ago.

“In fact that game at the Brandywell against Dundela, they should have been 4-0 up before the game went to 1-1.

“I’ve seen enough of Stute to realise that not only are they going to be dangerous, but they’re young and hungry, but they’re well coached by Kevin and that’s going to be the challenge in itself, but we’re looking forward to the tie.

“It’s the quarter-final and they’ll feel as if it could be an opportunity to not only cause an upset but progress to the semi-final, so we need to make sure that we’re at our best.”

In recent weeks Linfield have fallen a point behind Premier Division champions Larne, after somewhat different results, but back to back victories over Cliftonville and Ballymena United, means the Belfast men have got their mojo back.

The former Manchester United and Leeds United front man, who has guided the Windsor Park men to two Irish Cup success in 2016-17 and 2020-21, but they haven’t been in the showpiece final since defeating Larne, at Mourneview Park, three years ago and Healy wants that record to come to an end sooner rather than later.

“When you go through a couple of games when you don’t win there’s a lot of questions that need answering, so we’ve done that over the last couple of games,” he stated.

“We’re also aware it’s the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup and we haven’t been to the Irish Cup final for a few years now and we know how important the Irish Cup is, so we take Institute very seriously.”

Healy has warned his players to make sure they don’t suffer another Irish Cup shock, which they did in 2020, losing to Peter Thompson’s Queen’s side, but they haven’t tasted defeat in both the Irish Cup and League Cup this season.

Positive

In fact, Linfield take on Portadown in the Bet McLean League Cup final next month and Healy wants his players to go into that final on the back of a positive result on Foyleside.

“We absolutely need to be in the zone,” he insisted. “In cup competitions we’ve been successful, in the League Cup last year and we’re in the final again the week after and that’s because we take every game seriously.

Linfield return to the Brandywell this Sunday for the first time in six years. (Photo - Tom Heaney, nwpresspics)

"In fact, when we played on the Friday night and that meant we had the free Saturday, it gave me the opportunity to visually get eyes on Stute and as I said although they lost that day to Dundela, they played very well. Stute have good young hungry players, who are well coached and that in itself provides real competition for us.

“To be honest you only have to look at Stute’s stats to see how well they’re playing this season and they bounced back from the Dundela defeat by beating Newington, they responded and reacted to the result the week before.

“Bouncing back against Newington meant they got three important points and are right up challenging for promotion.”

Linfield go into the tie without former Dundalk midfielder Chris Shields, who looks set to miss the remainder of the season, after picking up a knee injury in that recent win at Cliftonville.

“Shieldsie is going to be a huge loss for us,” explained the former Northern Ireland international striker.

“He’s a big player for us on the pitch and he’s a big player for us in and around the dressing room. It’s not the news we wanted. He’s not long back after a spell out due to injury. It’s depressing for Shieldsie... and it’s depressing for the club because he’s such a huge player for us.”