Larne won a third consecutive County Antrim Shield by beating 10-man Linfield in a penalty shootout that was delayed for 20 minutes due to an injury suffered by Linfield goalkeeper David Walsh.
Mark Randall scored the winning spot-kick at Seaview to give the holders a 4-3 win after a scoreless draw which saw Blues midfielder Kyle McClean sent off in the first half.
The match ended in worrying circumstances when Walsh, 20, suffered a head injury in the 90th minute.
He appeared to get an accidental blow to the head when challenging Thomas Maguire for the ball, with referee Shane Andrews taking the teams off the pitch for an ambulance to tend to Walsh.
After consulting with both teams, Andrews decided not to play the remaining injury time but instead to go straight to a shootout when the players re-emerged as heavy snow continued to fall.
After the match, Linfield tweeted their best wishes for a speedy recovery to Walsh.
Linfield, who had assistant manager Ross Oliver sent off in the first half and boss David Healy shown a red card after the break, gained the early momentum in the shootout when Chris Johns, on as a substitute for Walsh, saved Leroy Millar’s spot-kick but Rohan Ferguson then immediately saved from Andrew Clarke.
Blues defender Michael Newberry hit the crossbar with his side’s fourth penalty before Randall coolly dispatched Larne’s fifth to win the trophy for Tiernan Lynch’s men.
Larne began the game well and had edged the opening exchanges when McClean was shown a straight red card for a late tackle on Millar, with Linfield’s Chris Shields and Larne’s Cian Bolger both booked by referee Andrews for their part in a melee that followed.
Millar came close top breaking the deadlock for Larne four minutes before half-time, meeting a corner with a powerful header that struck the top of the Linfield crossbar.
Healy’s red card in the 55th minute was shown for him stepping on to the pitch to kick the ball back when it appeared a free kick had been already giving, with the ball striking Larne striker Paul O’Neill as he attempted to reach it before Healy struck it.
O’Neill had perhaps the best chance of the match four minutes from time, but he headed well off target from a Maguire cross, with Walsh then blocking a deflected Bolger volley on the line before suffering his injury.
