Healy: Jordan is reaping rewards of hard work
showing great awareness to pick out Adam Salley, who shot wide when he ought to have tested Roy Carroll.
On 55, Linfield were within inches of doubling their lead when Quinn’s ferocious 35 yard drive smashed against the crossbar before hitting Dunne and going for a corner which was headed on to the post by Stafford.
Two lucky escapes for the Ports, who took advantage of their fortune with the pace and trickery Jerry Thompson and Carmichael starting to cause havoc down the flanks.
Warming to their task, they equalised on 69 minutes with Salley and Adam McCallum causing havoc in the box from Sean Mackle’s corner and Carmichael netting from close range at the far post.
Both sides could have won it before Stewart did, slamming the ball into the net on 91 minutes after substitute Lorcan Forde, Quinn and Matthew Clarke were involved in the move. Relief for Linfield, who are away to Dungannon Swifts in the semi-finals. • GLENAVON reached the final of the Mid-Ulster Cup after they thrashed Dungannon Swifts 5-1 at Mourneview Park.
The Lurgan Blues will play the winner of next week’s second semi-final between Warrenpoint Town and Portadown after they easily dispatched their Premiership rivals.
It was the Swifts who got off to a blistering start when Cormac Burke headed home inside two minutes, but Conor McCloskey levelled the tie and Gary Muir’s penalty had Glenavon ahead at half-time.
McCloskey added a second after the restart, with Jordan Jenkins and Oisin Barr also scoring for the rampant Lurgan side. Healy (below) added: “I was pleased for Jordan. He was actually tiring and I was contemplating taking him off 10 minutes before the end on the heavy pitch because he hasn’t played 90 minutes too much lately but, fair play to him, he kept going and was in the right place at the right time and got us a crucial winner.
“We made the decision about him going on the list around August when we had a conversation and Jordan felt that things weren’t working out for him but he is not on the list any more and has knuckled down. When he does knuckle down, he has good ability, and fortunately against Portadown he got an important goal.
“I thought overall our performance was bang average. In the first half we were okay, and in the second half, apart from hitting the woodwork a couple of times, we struggled.
“Fair play to Portadown, they had a right go after the break and we got off the hook when we were trying to win and got caught at the back when we probably didn’t need to. Ultimately though, cup competitions are all about winning, so if you win 5-0 or 2-1 it’s all the same.”
Ports boss Tipton was proud of the efforts of his side who have been inconsistent in the Championship.
He said: “In the last month we’ve lost four out of six games and conceded from every mistake. We were more organised and solid defensively against Linfield which gave us a platform to go forward and challenge them, and I thought we made it difficult for them.”