Institute manager Kevin Deery ready to embrace challenge of facing 44-time Irish Cup champions Linfield in quarter-final date

​Mikhail Kennedy, who was recently appointed club captain, scored his fifth goal in six matches since joining from Crusaders last month while ‘Stute goalkeeper Gareth Muldoon saved Callum Dougan’s second-half penalty in the 1-0 victory.

Deery’s men are currently setting the pace at the Championship’s summit, while David Healy’s Blues are sitting top of the Premiership table.

"I'm delighted with the draw...it will be a real good test for us and, let's not get away from it's a real good gate for the club,” Deery told BBC Sportsound. "We tested ourselves against Cliftonville in the League Cup and it was a great exercise.

"We played quite well but you know what you're getting against these top teams - they're clinical and they're ruthless.

"So we need to certainly have a really outstanding performance to get anything out of that tie but it's one where we can test ourselves and see where we're at with a bunch of really young men."

Deery was also full of praise for 25-year-old Muldoon, who kept his 12th clean sheet of the season after guessing correctly from Dougan’s spot-kick.

"We gave away a penalty...I need to see it back but it looked pretty harsh to me to be honest,” he added. "Gareth steps up and hasn't let us down at all, he's been outstanding.”

Draw: Larne vs Newington, Institute vs Linfield, Glentoran vs Ballyclare, Portadown vs Cliftonville.