Ronan had only to walk the ball into the net to make victory safe

It was by chance that I got to look in on the closing stages of the Irish Cup final the Saturday before last. There had been the usual dose of horse racing earlier on – and what a ‘dose’ it was, Aidan O’Brien’s talking horse, City of Troy, bombing out in the English 2000 Guineas. The rugby at Croke Park would be coming up later.

In between came the tail-end of the match between Cliftonville and Linfield. I’m not a great follower of the Irish League. My interest centres on Newry City and Warrenpoint, taking a look at their results and positions in the table. Not very good for either in the season just ended..

Extra-time was being played at Windsor Park, and an excitable commentator was coming across in the highest of pitches. That’s something that will always catch my attention, so I stayed with it.

Time was running out with Clintonville ahead by 2-1. Linfield were applying pressure, looking as if they might grab an equaliser. They had a shot blocked, and this was the start of a move that led to a goal at the other end, the likes of which I had never seen before.

Well, in fact, I had. It wasn’t, however, in a soccer match. Only the week before, Donegal had beaten Derry in the Ulster Championship, scoring four goals. It was easy for three of the scorers – the Derry goalkeeper, Odhran Lynch, was AWOL.

(AWOL? Well, that’s how I see it when a goalie takes himself upfield for whatever reason, except if he’s taking a free or a ‘45’. Of course, they are not doing it ‘without leave’. It’s one of the instructions most No 1s nowadays get before heading outfield. It’s a dangerous exercise: just ask Lynch, or maybe Monaghan’s Rory Beggan, or Ross Bogue, the Fermanagh ‘keeper who sent Sam Mulroy an invitation which the Louth captain was always likely to accept, in a recent National League tie.)

Back to Windsor. Straight from the blocked kick, a Cliftonville defender won possession, and looking up spotted Ronan Hale unmarked behind the defence. He quickly got the ball through to the striker, who was still in his own half – had he not been he’d have been flagged offside.

So off Hale went goalwards. And I wondered, how is he going to get around the goalie. No need for any wondering – Chris Johns had left the shop unattended after going up to give attack a hand. All Hale had to do was walk the ball into the net, doing a little showboating along the way.

Cliftonville, with a shamrock on the crest, were the 3-1 winners, giving them the Cup for the first time in 45 years. It was a win with which Dundalk FC supporters of all ages could resonate.

The older among them would remember Danny Hale as a dashing centre-forward in the Alan Fox team of the 1960s. He was lethal around goals, scoring 28 times in a league-winning season.

Belfast-born Danny, who got a taste of European football in the white jersey as a result of the league win, had two grandsons on the Cliftonville4 team, two-goal hero Ronan and his brother Rory.

And then there was David Odumuso who started the final in goals but had to retire injured. Not before, however, he had made a number of fine saves as his team came under pressure.

David played here at underage, Glenmuir among his teams, and when he graduated to senior football, manned the goals for Drogheda Utd and St Patrick’s before transferring to Cliftonville.

If you’re talking to him, you’ll find he might have a Dundalk drawl as broad as any of those with a relative buried in the old Castletown graveyard. That shouldn’t surprise – he was born here.

The winning team’s manager, Jim Magilton, had a more recent, but very short, sojourn at Oriel. The former Notthern Ireland International was sporting director during Peak6’s troubled ownership of the club, and for a time filled to the role of interim manager. He came with an impressive CV, but it didn’t quite work out for him or his employers.