Sunday's victory in the BetMcLean League Cup final has left Chris Shields in the remarkable position of being the current holder of competition both north and south of the border!
Shields scored the winning penalty for Dundalk in the 2019 League of Ireland Cup final in their 6-5 shootout win over Derry City.
That was the last time the tournament was held due to coronavirus>Covid so after netting another penalty in the 2-0 win over Coleraine at the weekend Shields holds the honour of holding both titles at the same time and it is a record he is rightly proud of.
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"As I said to the lads during the week - that's me holder of both League Cups north and south of the border because it hasn't come back in the League of Ireland," said the midfielder.
"Any trophy I win I've loved and have treated them all the same - maybe leagues are the top.
"You want to be as decorated as you can be at the end of your career and you never know when it's your last cup final so you don't want to take them for granted. This is my first League Cup final with Linfield and I enjoyed winning it."
Shields admitted that there was a bit of relief for the Blues that they had secured at least one piece of silverware this season after a few disappointments along the way.
"There was a bit of pressure because it could easily have become a season of nearlys had we not won," he said.
"There was Europe in August, all of a sudden there's the league campaign that hasn't gone swimmingly, penalties in the Antrim Shield, penalties in the Irish Cup and had this drawn on longer staying 0-0 today you might have thought is this going to happen again?
"I thought we came to the fore today and really showed our intent. We have picked up better form and it was one you really wanted to win.
"From the outside in, others are always wanting Linfield to fall at the final hurdle and we had to make sure it didn't happen."
Shields is well aware of the demands for success at Windsor Park and he is hoping this latest trophy lift can inspire the Blues to even more glory this season.
"You see the demands put on the club by the fans, people internally in the club, I've experienced it first hand," he said.
"In my first season last year there was a week where we got put out of the League Cup and lost to Crusaders on the Friday and there were people calling for David's head probably, which is unbeknown to me!
"When I was winning things at Dundalk we created that success out of nothing so it was all on ourselves and there was a leeway, but I knew coming to Linfield that the demand for success was high.
"I've followed the league closely for a long time and David is a top manager.
"I've watched this core group hunt down a 12-point gap on Crusaders in 2017 so when people ask if this will spur you on for the league, you have to draw on boys' experience of what they did a few years ago and say it's not over until it's over.
"It was nice to get our hands on some silverware and hopefully this can spur us on going into the last seven games of the season and what is going to be a huge split."
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