Stephen Baxter says the sad and sudden passing of Kaylee Black put "things into perspective" for Crusaders in the build-up to the Irish Cup final.
The club was rocked by the death of the teenager, who played for Crusaders Titan Under-13s.
First team staff and players held a collection for Kaylee's family with Baxter and club captain Billy Joe Burns spending time with them during the week.
Read more: Irish Cup final player ratings after Crusaders surge to 4-0 win
The Crues boss says after speaking with the family it reinforced what matters.
“We had a lovely moment with the family earlier in the week," said Baxter.
“On Wednesday night after training, it was the players' idea to raise money and bring a donation to the family.
“We met the family back at Seaview. We chatted as a team around the loss of someone connected with our football club.
“She played for our Strikers, the girls’ section. It brings everything into reality and puts things into perspective that this is a game of football we all love and enjoy.
“When something like this happens, everything else doesn’t matter.
“It helped take big key nerves away. We simply said, let’s go and enjoy this, let’s really embrace the Cup final.
“I felt it during the week, there was a mood in the camp that we wouldn’t be beaten.
“I think a lot of that came from what was going on behind the scenes at the football club.
“These guys rallied round, they pulled together to get the job done."
Both sets of supporters paid tribute to Kaylee with a minute's silence before the game before a minute's applause was held in the 13th minute.
It coincided with the Crues first goal from Ross Clarke. It was the only goal of a dominant half of football from Baxter's men, but they more than made up for it after the break as Adam Lecky, Philip Lowry and Paul Heatley all scored to secure back-to-back Irish Cup wins.
“We didn’t play well last year, but somehow got the cup won," said the Crusaders boss.
“I was determined for us to come here, pass the ball well and play well this time. We did that with some aplomb.
“Our level of performance was really, really scintillating, especially given we had lost Billy Joe Burns (suspended) and Josh Robinson (injured), and had to play one or two people in different positions, but we worked all of that out."
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