Linfield manager David Healy hopes success will help to attract new players

Matthew Clarke celebrates with Linfield manager David Healy after the club's 3-0 Irish Cup final win over Coleraine

Linfield manager David Healy hopes his side's successful season will help to attract quality players to the club.

Healy has led the Blues to the Irish Premiership title, an Irish Cup triumph and a County Antrim Shield win in his first full season in charge.

"We had our disappointments last year. I and the Board were frustrated wondering why we could not get players to come to Linfield," commented Healy.

"Hopefully the season we have had will make my job a wee bit easier."

"We need to start building something here and hopefully some new players will be announced soon. Players might start wanting to come to Linfield and we can bring quality players to this club."

The new league champions have already been linked with moves for ex-Glentoran player Jordan Stewart, who has recently parted company with Swindon Town, as well as Portadown midfielder Robert Garrett.

Crusaders, their rivals in the thrilling chase for the championship, have reached agreement with Portadown striker Mark McAllister.

Healy extends stay at Windsor Park

After Saturday's 3-0 Irish Cup final win over Coleraine, Healy agreed an extension to his contract with the club which will see him remain at the helm of the Windsor Park outfit until the end of the 2019-20 season.

"I was fortunate to have a decent career in England and Scotland, fortunate to score the goals I did for Northern Ireland, but to be manager of Linfield and to win trophies is such a privilege. I'm chuffed to bits," added Healy.

"We were runners-up last year in the three competitions that we have won this season and sometimes you have to feel the pain and the hurt so that when you do achieve success, it feels a wee bit sweeter.

"Andy Waterworth will grab the headlines for scoring a hat-trick in a cup final and rightly so, but it has been a real combined effort."

Waterworth received a further boost on Sunday when he was named Northern Ireland Football Writers' Player of the Month for April.

The striker netted five goals during the month and then scored the treble which helped his side clinch the league championship by beating Cliftonville on the final day of the Premiership season.