Cliftonville legend Joe Gormley: Skipper Rory Hale is a class act for letting Chris Curran and I lift the Irish Cup

Gormley and club captain Curran are long time Solitude heroes and it was fitting that the two stalwarts were presented with the trophy after a dramatic 3-1 extra-time victory over Linfield at Windsor Park to end 45 years of hurt for the north Belfast club in the competition.

It happened that way because of a kind gesture from Rory Hale, who was skipper for the day.

In a jubilant post match press conference, Cliftonville’s record goalscorer Gormley explained: “To be fair I wasn’t expecting to lift it. Chris (Curran) is obviously the captain and Rory was the captain on the day and the man he is he came over to me and said ‘Joe I want you and Chris to lift the trophy today’ and I said ‘Are you sure?’ and he said ‘Yes’.

“It was an honour to lift the Cup in front of what I consider to be the best fans in the country.

“I appreciated Rory giving me the chance to do it but that’s Rory Hale.”

Smiling, Gormley, who was an unused substitute in the victory, added: “Listen I wasn’t refusing it…

“It was a great day for the club. The players are a credit to their community and their families. Personally I’ve never been prouder of a group of lads.”

On his classy touch, Hale said: “Those two men have given their life to Cliftonville, the skipper Chrissy and Joe, and I thought the man (Gormley) didn’t even get on the pitch and he was the first one celebrating and congratulating everyone, so why not?

“They are two legends of the football club and if I can do half of what they have done at Cliftonville I’ll be doing alright for myself. It just felt right that the two boys lifted the Cup.”

Hale’s analysis of the game was just as admirable, admitting he felt the Reds were “scared in the first 25 minutes” and that “the team took time to settle in.”

In that period they went 1-0 down to Ethan McGee's header and in the first half lost goalkeeper David Odumoso and Odhran Casey to injury with the latter having to go to hospital with a suspected broken leg.

Hale said: “We mentioned Odhran’s injury at half-time saying that fella was up in the hospital with a possible broken leg or broken ankle so the least we could do was run about.

“I told the lads I’d rather go out fighting and lose 5-0 than go down in a whimper, sitting in and soaking up pressure. That’s not us and it is definitely not the way I play and we got to grips with it and settled into the game. I think everyone grew in confidence as the match wore on.”

Sam Ashford equalised courtesy of a fabulous Hale cross early in the second half and once the game went to extra-time it was Rory’s brother, Ronan who was the star of the show with a blistering goal in the first period before a playground moment in the final seconds running clear on goal and being able to celebrate prior to stroking the ball into the net.

“I was so proud of Ronan. He is such a fantastic footballer. I think players have got moves across the water doing less than what he has done in the last two seasons,” said Rory.

“I think he has scored something like 55 goals in two seasons which is remarkable and he played left wing last season. His goal return is outstanding and he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.”