Linfield boss David Healy hails "brilliant" Andy Waterworth following striker's retirement

Linfield boss David Healy says the Irish League has lost a “brilliant, brilliant” striker following Andy Waterworth’s decision to end his playing career at the age of 36.

Waterworth, who played for the Blues, Glentoran, Ards, Glenavon, Lisburn Distillery, Kilmore Rec and Scottish side Hamilton, confirmed his retirement at the weekend.

The mobile marksman scored 293 goals in 675 games in a glittering career spanning almost 20 years, with 190 of those goals coming during a successful eight-year spell at Linfield.

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Healy, who was Waterworth’s manager for six seasons, said: “Andy was a brilliant, brilliant player for this football club.

“He was also a brilliant player for me. I know Andy used to think that I maybe always picked on him or that we didn’t have that sort of bond or relationship.

“But it was maybe only when he started getting into the latter stages of his career and going into the coaching side of things that he realised how much respect I had for him.

“As both a player and a person, I couldn’t speak highly enough about Andy. He was brilliant on the pitch and also in and around the dressing room.”

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Waterworth won an array of medals during his playing career, including four league titles with Linfield and one as a Glentoran player in 2009.

Other highlights included scoring a brace for the Glens in a 3-1 Irish Cup final win over Cliftonville in 2013 and a hat-trick for Linfield in the 2017 showpiece against Coleraine.

Healy, who retired from playing at the age of 34 in 2013, said: “If Andy has decided that now is the right time to