Aston Villa and Birmingham City academy products Rory and Ronan Hale combined to help Cliftonville lift their first Irish Cup in 45 years at Windsor Park on Saturday. The Reds overcame Belfast rivals Linfield 3-1 in the final in a tie which required extra time to separate the two sides - and a 30-minute period in which former Blues forward Ronan bagged a brace, including one excellent goal when he cut in from the left and found the far corner from distance.
Ronan developed a reputation during his time at Wast Hills as a free scoring attacker but who never broke into the Blues first-team after joining the club from Crusaders in 2016. After a brief loan spell with Derry City, he left St Andrew's in January 2019 and returned to Belfast with the Crues. He made the switch to Solitude with Cliftonville in 2022, after spells with Larne and St Pat's and he's continued to find the net on a regular basis.
Rory, meanwhile, was at Villa during the same period that Ronan spent time in Blues' academy; he returned to Ireland in 2017, initially with Galway United and then with Derry and also Crusaders. He moved to Cliftonville prior to his younger brother, in 2021. While Ronan might've caught the headlines with his match-winning goals, Rory was awarded the man of the match and produced an assist for Sam Ashford's equaliser earlier in the game.
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"It's brilliant! An amazing day, an amazing performance, fair play to everyone it was some shift," the central midfielder said after the trophy lift. "We knew it was gong to be a tough game, we were underdogs but we knew it was going to be a good game plan from Jim [Magilton, manager] and it paid off. I knew I had to put in a shift, that's my game. Then the quality on the ball comes second. If I wasn't everywhere then you'd know there was something up with me."
Rory also paid tribute to Ronan after the final - his younger brother has been linked with a return to England, with Derby County, Portsmouth, Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers in the recent January transfer window and his teammates have talked up his chances of cracking English football after his Blues experience.
"I think players have got moves across the water doing less than what he has done over the past two seasons," said Hale. "He took a chance to leave Larne to come to Cliftonville, play week in, week out and enjoy his football. I think he's hit 55 goals in two seasons which is remarkable, absolutely outstanding and he played left wing last season. He missed the first few months of this season and has still hit over 20 goals.
"His goal return is absolutely outstanding and he doesn't get the credit he deserves. What Ronan does for that second goal...not many other players in the Irish League could do that. I'm probably his harshest critic because I know what he's capable of. That's just the confidence that he has, the celebration and enjoying the moment. He ran his socks off for 120 minutes, battled well against three good Linfield centre-halves and come out with two goals so fair play to him. I'm very proud of him."
