Clearer Water Irish Cup Final; Cliftonville v Linfield
(Windsor Park, Saturday, 2.30pm, live on BBC2)
 
CLIFTONVILLE striker Ronan Hale is hopeful that his only job on Saturday will be helping his side to victory in the Irish Cup decider.

The 25-year-old striker and his partner are due to welcome their second child next week and Hale is hopeful that timeframe is accurate, and he won’t be thrust from Windsor Park at short notice on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m hoping the baby comes early or else after the final because I don’t know what I’ll be doing,” said Hale.

“It will be another great occasion for me, bringing my second daughter into the world. Hopefully I can do it with a trophy beside her.

“I’d say it will take my mind at ease thinking about it. It’s a game of football at the end of the day and you have to go into it with confidence.

“It’s going to be a great occasion for everyone involved. It’s one of them where you’ve got to take everything in its course and see where it takes you.”

Saturday is the third time that Hale will be involved in the showpiece occasion.

He was a winner in 2019 for Crusaders against Ballinamallard United and was part of the Larne side in 2021 that lost the final to Linfield and the striker is very much looking forward to an amazing experience at the weekend.

“Winning it was a great feeling,” Hale reflected.

“Having the title beside my name of winning it, I didn’t play in the final, but it was a great experience of being involved and stuff like that. I lost 2-1 to Linfield in 2021 with Larne.

“It was a tough feeling, and it was in Covid. There wasn’t really a crowd or a real cup final atmosphere.  This is going to be amazing playing in front of everyone you know and a big crowd and we’re really looking forward to it.”

Hale believes that there is a real buzz in the camp and was pleased that the weekend’s dress rehearsal yielded a positive outcome.

“I think we’ve got that feeling where everyone is really buzzing for it,” he reports.

“The weekend was all about getting game time for everyone that hasn’t been playing and trying to get confidence for the cup final. You can’t go into the cup final lying down or saying we’ll just take our form into the final. It was about getting boys minutes.”

An extra-time hat-trick from Hale in Coleraine sparked the Reds' Cup run into life and he added two in their win against Loughgall in the last 16 before sealing victory over Larne in the semi-final.

However, he was keen to praise the defensive structure of the team that is yet to concede along the way.

“It’s been brilliant to score the goals and I don’t think we’ve conceded on the way,” he pointed out.

“It’s not relatively easy but it hasn’t been really hard too. The hardest test was Larne, 2-0 in the semi-final and we overcame that. It was a brilliant occasion for everyone to reach the final. We won’t be taking this lightly. Everyone is going to be up for it, and we really can’t wait to get it going.”

Older sibling Rory was named PFA Player of the Year at the NIFL and NI Football Writers dinner two weeks ago and Ronan believes his brothers accolade was very much deserved.

“I think he deserved it this year,” Hale admits.

“He’s been brilliant all season, especially when the games haven’t aren’t going our way, he is there digging us out. I’m buzzing for him.”