Barry Gray: Reds stronger for Cup final defeat

Rory Donnelly scored twice for Cliftonville in their most recent meeting with Ballymena United

Cliftonville manager Barry Gray is confident his team can bounce back from their Irish Cup final loss to earn European qualification for next season.

The Reds have four days to recover from their defeat by Coleraine before hosting Ballymena in their Europa League play-off at Solitude.

"I've no doubt we'll come out stronger the other side of this," said Gray.

In the other play-off semi-final, Glentoran's reward for finishing seventh is a trip to Linfield.

The Glens are set to be without Curtis Allen for their trip to Winsdor Park after the club lost an appeal against the red card shown to the forward during a recent victory against Dungannon Swifts.

Allen, 30, is now facing the possibility of a three-match ban but Glentoran could still lodge a further appeal.

In a further disruption to their preparations, Glentoran are still seeking a full-time replacement for manager Gary Haveron with caretaker boss Ronnie McFall set to take charge of the team for the game.

Linfield and Glentoran drew 1-1 at Windsor Park on 17 March

Linfield, who finished the season in fourth place after a disappointing defence of their title, are looking to secure European football for a 15th consecutive season.

Linfield are encouraging supporters to allow plenty of time to get to the ground as the meeting of the two Belfast rivals will coincide with a large outdoor concert at Boucher Road Playing Fields.

Hell bent on success

Cliftonville manager Barry Gray says his team will have learned valuable lessons from their Cup final loss

Ballymena beat Glenavon in last year's Europa League play-off final and the Sky Blues will be hoping to repeat that success again this season.

David Jeffrey's side will need to arrest an alarming slide in form if they are progress after going five games without a win since securing a top-six finish.

That run of form included a 3-0 defeat by Cliftonville at Ballymena Showgrounds in the first round of post-split fixtures.

Reds manager Gray is confident the Cup final defeat on Saturday will galvanise his side as they look to finish the season on a high.

"The players in the changing room and the staff and the board that's around me, we all have one focus. We all are hell-bent on being successful," said Gray.

"While we're disappointed inside, the character of the players that we have, if you look at what they've had to deal with all year long and they've always come out the other side of it."

The two semi-final winners will advance to the final game of the season, the Europa League play-off final on Saturday, 12 May (kick-off 15:00 BST).