Samuel Gelston’s Whiskey Irish Cup semi-final
Cliftonville 1–2 Crusaders
CLIFTONVILLE’S treble hopes were dashed by North Belfast rivals Crusaders after the Shore Road men came from behind to beat their near-neighbours 2-1 in the semi-final of the Samuel Gelston’s Irish Cup at Windsor Park on Friday evening.
Joe Gormley stabbed the league challengers ahead, but Ross Clarke restored parity either side of Paul O’Neill having two goals disallowed -and a deflected Billy Joe Burns effort completed the turnaround in first-half injury-time.
The Reds were unable to repeat their feat of a few weeks ago when they bounced back against Coleraine in the final of the League Cup as Crusaders advanced to the May 7 decider.
Reds’ boss Paddy McLaughlin was disappointed with the decision to disallow a Paul O’Neill goal that he felt was perfectly good but admits his side got complacent before the break.
“We came out of the blocks really quick, it was a brilliant start by us,” he reflected.
“At 1-0 up we were in total control of the game, we looked very dangerous every time we attacked and then we scored a second perfectly good goal. It was disallowed, I think if the goal stands then it puts us in a really strong position to go and win the match and get the club to a final.
“It’s been taken away from us, so we’re disappointed with the call and disappointed with the decision, but that’s no excuse.
“I think going into half-time we took our foot off the pedal a little bit and we got a wee bit complacent. It was two mistakes that led to the two goals.”
Crusaders had the first half-chance of proceedings through a deep swinging Aidan Wilson cross that drifted wide of Luke McNicholas’ goal.
The deadlock was broken after eight minutes as Paul O’Neill linked up well with Kris Lowe whose shot was cleared off the line by Jordan Forsythe; Levi Ives reached the follow-up and his low ball into the box was turned home by Joe Gormley for his 21st goal of the season.
Gormley gives Cliftonville the lead
On the quarter-hour mark, a Ross Clarke cross was helped behind for a corner by Lowe, but Ben Kennedy’s cross come to nothing from the resulting corner.
At the other end, Aidan Wilson failed to deal with a header and almost presented Paul O’Neill with an opening, but the danger was snuffed out in the nick of time.
O’Neill tried to pick out strike partner Gormley with a perfect curling cross that was cut out by the sliding challenge of Jonny Tuffey in the Crues goal.
Luke McNicholas was called into action for the first time a few minutes later after Ronan Doherty’s slack pass allowed Paul Heatley to bare down on goal, but the Republic of Ireland U21 international stood firm and blocked the near-post attempt.
Cliftonville thought they had doubled their lead on 27 minutes when Kris Lowe’s cross was headed home via the underside of the bar by Paul O’Neill, but the offside flag was immediately raised and quickly cut short the celebrations.
Ten minutes before the break, the equaliser arrived for Crusaders when Aidan Wilson’s high ball into the area was punched by McNicholas, but wasn’t dealt with adequately, and Ben Kennedy’s shot was hooked as far as Ross Clarke who turned the loose ball home and made it 1-1.
Paul O’Neill had a second goal chalked off in the aftermath after Daniel Larmour miscued and allowed him a run through on goal with replays later showing that O’Neill was in fact onside and the goal should have stood.
It looked as though the sides would go in level at the break, but in first-half injury-time Crusaders turned the game around.
Ben Kennedy’s corner from the left was flicked on by Ross Clarke and Billy Joe Burns header hit the net via a deflection from Luke Turner to ensure the Shore Road outfit led 2-1 at the interval.
Billy Joe Burns celebrates scoring what turned out to be the winner
Crusaders almost extended their lead a few minutes after the restart.
After forcing a series of corners, a cross from Ben Kennedy was glanced over the angle of post and crossbar by Billy Joe Burns.
Paddy McLaughlin attempted to change the course of the game through his substitutions, but the game went stale up until the closing stages.
Ross Clarke produced a telling cross from the left and Paul Heatley headed wide of the target.
Then Luke Turner lofted a deep cross in and it landed on the roof of the net, Levi Ives swung in a corner from the left that Tuffey gobbled up and their best chance arrived in the 90th minute when a flicked header from Joe Gormley allowed Paul O’Neill an opportunity, but he took too long to weigh up his options and Jonny Tuffey denied the striker.
In the end, Crusaders negotiated five minutes of added time to advance to the May 7 decider, whilst Cliftonville’s focus now turns to try to leapfrog Linfield in the battle for the Gibson Cup.
CLIFTONVILLE: McNicholas, Lowe (Kearns 86), Addis, Turner, Ives, C Curran (McDermott 63), Doherty (Hale 58), Gallagher, R Curran, O’Neill, Gormley.
CRUSADERS: Tuffey, BJ Burns, Wilson (O’Rourke 71), Weir, Lowry, Kennedy, Lecky, Forsythe, Larmour (Hegarty 78), Heatley, Clarke.
REFEREE: Raymond Crangle
