Paul Millar celebrates his team's win at Windsor Park

"For a cup final I thought it was an excellent game and all 22 players put everything into it," said Millar.

"Our guys have showed character all season and they are a joy to work with. We have won this trophy the hard way and it was a real battle out there.

"It was a tough game. They battled and worked so hard but we just edged it."

Goalscorer Hamilton also praised the opposition for playing a significant part in "a great game of football".

"Cliftonville played very well and maybe they will count themselves unlucky not to have won but they didn't take their chances and we did.

We shouldn't be going back into the dressing room with silver medals as we played some superb football Eddie Patterson

"The team spirit is excellent here and I came to win trophies and hopefully there will be more to come."

Skipper Paul Leeman said it was "great to win the first trophy of the season".

"The Reds put us under a lot of pressure and we were maybe lucky to go in 1-0 ahead at half-time as they created a lot of chances but we made a few of our own in the second half."

Cliftonville manager Eddie Patterson said he was "gutted for his players" and added that "the best team lost out there".

"We shouldn't be going back into the dressing room with silver medals as we played some superb football and had the better of the play.

"For me, Conor Downey was man of the match but although we played well, we missed some great chances."