Irish Cup final: Crusaders 3-0 winners over Ballinamallard

An improved performance in the second half saw Crusaders secure a 3-0 win over Championship outfit Ballinamallard United in the Irish Cup final.

Jordan Owens gave the Crues an early lead, with Philip Lowry and substitute Ross Clarke adding goals in the opening 10 minutes of the second period.

The north Belfast side deserved their win after showing much more urgency after the interval.

The victory also secures European football for the Crues next season.

Relive the key moments from the 2018/19 Irish Cup final

'We scored at key moments' - man of the match Ward

Crues boss Baxter: Cup was target since Christmas

It was a first Irish Cup success in a decade for the Seaview men, who also won the County Antrim Shield this season, and the fourth time in the club's history that they have lifted the trophy.

A crowd of 5,744 - less than half the total attendance at last year's decider - were at Windsor Park to watch a cup final that was not a classic.

The atmosphere was significantly lacking in the first half, mirroring the action on the pitch, but there was much more of a showpiece feel to proceedings after the break.

Lowry's header made it 2-0 early in the second half

The opening goal arrived in in the sixth minute and it was a trademark header from Owens, who has scored in every round of this year's competition, but Mallards keeper John Connolly will feel he could have done better.

Billy Joe Burns produced a deep cross from the right and Owens rose unmarked to head into the top corner from 12 yards, with Connolly struggling to adjust his feet and failing to keep it out despite getting a hand on it.

Lowry's goal came two minutes into the second half when his header from a Paul Heatley corner took a deflection and went in past Connolly for the midfielder's second goal in an Irish Cup final.

Clarke then came off the bench to score with his first touch of the game, sweeping home a good Heatley cutback after the winger had made a fine run off the left touchline.

United defender Matthew Smyth attempts to keep out Jordan Owens of Crusaders

Early aerial threat in flat first half

A deep ball into the box and a headed goal from Jordan Owens is certainly not a new tactic from the Crues, but in the early stages it looked like boss Stephen Baxter had identified balls into the box as a route to glory for his side.

A few minutes after the opening goal, Burns got forward down the right again and produced another threatening cross which Jordan Forsythe got on the end of, but could only head over the bar.

Three minutes later Lowry rose at the near post but was just off target with a header, and it looked like the Premiership side were on the verge of taking the game away from their Championship opponents.

However, the urgency went out of their performance after 20 minutes and the game as a spectacle failed to come to life.

Mallards striker Ryan Campbell came closest for Harry McConkey's side when he flashed a diagonal left-foot shot wide of the far post after 10 minutes.

Early bursts get job done for Crues

This was not a vintage performance from Crusaders in what has been a far from stellar season for a club that moved towards a more professional set-up last summer after securing their third Premiership title in four years.

However, it did not need to be against a Championship side for whom getting to the final for a first time was a major achievement in itself.

Crusaders - who beat Glentoran, Linfield, Ballymena United and Coleraine to get to the final - started both halves well and got the vital goals to make sure the Mallards didn't become the third team from outside the top flight to win the trophy.

Ross Clarke's goal capped a 3-0 win for Crusaders at Windsor Park

Owens has had an injury-plagued season but he produced the goods on the big occasion once again, with Lowry then repeating his goalscoring feat with Linfield in the 2010 cup final to add a second soon after the interval.

In-form David Cushley was not happy when Baxter replaced him with Ross Clarke but the former Linfield winger proved his manager right by making no mistake from a Heatley pass to hammer in the third with his first touch.

Cup final a step too far for Mallards

Ballinamallard were playing in the Irish Cup final for the first time in their history

Ballinamallard had beaten two Premiership sides in Dungannon Swifts and Warrenpoint Town on their way to the final but boss McConkey had said before kick-off that they only had a 10% chance of victory in the decider.

A difficult start for a side that had lost nine of their first 11 games this season got even harder after just six minutes when Owens headed the Crues in front.

Skipper Richard Clarke did most of his good work in deep areas and, while their talismanic striker Campbell was a willing runner throughout, he had very little to work off in terms of quality through balls.

Their fans had given them great backing during the week's build-up to the game and travelled a long distance to be at Windsor - and they thought they were going to get a cup final goal to remember in the 78th minute.

Nathan Cashel curled what might have been a cross towards the far post and it came off the outside of the woodwork.

Man of the match - Sean Ward (Crusaders)

Ward's other cup wins came in 2013 with Glentoran and as a Linfield player in 2017

It perhaps says a lot about the game when a defender is named man-of-the-match in his side's 3-0 win. But that was the case for the experienced Sean Ward, who was composed throughout as part of the Crusaders back three.

Having already won the league title with three different clubs, the schoolteacher has now done the same with the Irish Cup as this success with the Crues adds to previous winning medals with Glentoran and Linfield.