Cliftonville manager Jim Magilton on management, David Healy 'respect' and desire for Irish Cup glory ahead of Linfield final

On that May afternoon where Crusaders strolled to a defence of their crown by beating Ballymena United 4-0, Magilton got another taste for the Irish League – he hadn’t played in it since the mid-1980s with Lisburn Distillery and never managed in it – and loved every second, but by his own admission, taking a job in the league was a million miles from his mind.

"The next thing I was thinking about was the beach!” he laughs. "The sense of occasion was huge and I really loved it.”

Fast forward a matter of months and the Ipswich Town legend, who got his football education in the youth ranks at Liverpool before going on to play for Oxford United, Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and the Tractor Boys, was back in management with the Reds – to initially mixed reviews.

Magilton quickly turned doubters into believers, putting together a Premiership title charge that only derailed in recent weeks while playing an attractive brand of attacking football and, of course, guiding the Solitude outfit to the cusp of euphoria with today’s final against Linfield the latest opportunity to end almost five decades of hurt.

Having won 52 international caps and played his whole career in England, Magilton has plenty of experience with pressure – he started in front of 73,427 fans as Ipswich won Premier League promotion in the final match at the old Wembley Stadium in 2000 and also registered over 200 top-flight appearances during a stellar career.

Even with all those accomplishments, the 54-year-old maintains that lifting the trophy this afternoon – a first silverware success as a manager – would rank highly on his list of favourites.

“It would be up there, 100 per cent,” he said. “You look back to help you move forward and I believe in that education and desire to be better.

"This is the next chapter in my football journey and it would be a huge highlight and fantastic achievement by everyone at the club.

“We are under no illusions here, we know how difficult a task it will be but we are more than capable of doing it.”

He knows opposite number David Healy very well with the pair former teammates while Northern Ireland’s record goalscorer briefly worked in youth development at the IFA when Magilton was serving as Elite Performance Director before taking on Linfield’s top job in October 2015.

Magilton was also present on the famous night in Belfast when Healy scored a hat-trick against Spain – almost exactly one year after his famous England strike – and might have even played a unique role with motivation.

"His celebration after the third goal was in front of me,” recalls Magilton. “He came out and at the time I was managing Ipswich and we were in the hunt for a centre-forward and as he was walking down for the warm-up he jokingly said ‘Jim, I’m available’ and I went ‘you’re kidding me aren’t you?’.

"When he scored the third, I felt about two foot tall and he was giving it loads! It was a moment to forget for me but an unbelievable night for him.”

Healy has gone on to claim 11 major trophies since transitioning into management, including four consecutive Premiership crowns between 2018/19 and 2021/22, while he’s now chasing a third Irish Cup title, which would cap off another successful season despite losing out in the league to Larne.

"I’ve an unbelievable amount of respect for him,” said Magilton. "He started his coaching journey at the IFA, but he didn't last too long because this (Linfield job) came calling for him.

"To think this is his first job in management and look at the job he has done given the pressure that this job brings and entails - I think he has done an incredible job.

"He has done an incredible job for the league too because at the end of the day it's David Healy who has so many international caps with the goals he has scored. He has brought a bit of celebrity status to the league and he has backed it up.”

Magilton has surely lost count of the amount he’s heard the number ‘45’ throughout his maiden season, but with Cliftonville selling out their ticket allocation in a matter of hours, it shows just how much ending this so-called hoodoo means to them.

If this team can do it, they’ll secure legendary status in North Belfast for the rest of their days and Magilton is keen for his players to savour the occasion with days like these few and far between.

"It's one of those fantastic days that you very rarely get,” he said. “If you get it more than once you're lucky.

"I had an unbelievable day out at Wembley, but it was only a fantastic day because we won. These lads have proven, especially in one-off occasions...the Larne game was a huge statement for us and by the players because no matter what you do, the players step over that white line and they take responsibility.

"If they manage to do it - which I have great belief that they can - it would be wonderful."