The Blues secured their place in the December 8 decider against Crusaders last night, but they needed a penalty shoot-out to see off a Newry City side who provided hard evidence that their rise to third place in the Irish Premier League is no fluke.

Indeed Gerry Flynn's side were only 16 minutes away from reaching their first final in over 15 years after Darren King gave them the lead, only for Peter Thompson to force extra-time with the equaliser that took a while to come despite plenty of Linfield pressure.

And it is last night's game that has Jeffrey already preparing for another battle in the final, even though it is a month away.

"It is a boost to the confidence in the squad that we have reached the first fully domestic final of the season," said Jeffrey.

"The final is going to be another massive task and if anyone thinks it is going to be a walk in the park they are very much mistaken.

"I played in a few finals and semi-finals that Linfield were supposed to win easily, but it didn't work out that way.

"I remember we beat Cliftonville in a semi-final and I scored in the penalty shoot-out that night. We played Omagh Town in the final and everyone thought the cup was ours, but we lost 3-0 that night.

"There was an Irish Cup semi-final replay against Ballymena United and with Larne already in the final in a lot of people's eyes winning the cup was a given for us. We were beated and it was Ballymena who went on to lift the cup.

"Then there was the time we lost 6-0 in a cup final replay to Glenavon after being 1-0 up in the first and looking lke we would win it.

"You only have to look at who Crusaders beat in the semi-final and the make-up of their squad to know that we will have a game on our hands in the final. Stephen Baxter will be determined to put one over on us and no way will we get it easy.

"They will be just like Newry, who made it very, very tough for us and although I don't think anyone can deny that we deserved the win it really could have went the other way, particularly when it gets to penalties."

The Blues lost last season's semi-final on penalties to Glentoran and last night's victory followed the Irish Cup final shoot-out win against Dungannon Swifts back in May before a penalty defeat at the hands of Drogheda United in the Setanta Sports Cup a week laer.