NIFL Premiership
Glentoran 0–2 Cliftonville
SECOND half goals Rory Hale and Michael McCrudden saw Cliftonville carry out the perfect revenge mission with a 2-0 win over Glentoran at The Oval on Saturday afternoon.
A week after exiting the Irish Cup at the hands of the Glens, Paddy Mclaughlin’s side were a completely different animal and carried out their game plan to perfection by frustrating the hosts in the opening half and then taking the lead through a stunning strike from Rory Hale.
After absorbing some pressure from the hosts, the Reds then doubled their lead on the break with Michael McCrudden slotting home past Rory Brown to make it 2-0 to the delight of McLaughlin.
“The boys were superb,” said the Reds’ boss.
“We defend and attack as a team and whenever I criticise for not scoring any goals-,it’s not pinpointing any particular player and it never will be like that. It’s a part of the game that we probably should have been better at last week, but we were superb today.
“That was coming from our full-backs getting forward and our midfielders busting to get forward and get on the end of things. It was there today, and it probably wasn’t there last week.
“We challenged the players to change that mindset of getting forward and being more of a threat and I thought we were superb right throughout the game.
“Every time we attacked, we looked like we could score. Dee (McAuley) who does our stats in the stand was telling us that we had more strikes on goal in the first 25 minutes of the game than we did in the last seven full 90 minutes of matches. That was the response we were looking for.”
Michael McCrudden celebrates making it 2-0
The Reds’ boss made four changes from the Irish Cup defeat seven days previous. Levi Ives made his longed-awaited return after seven months out with a metatarsal injury suffered against Crusaders in October. Garry Breen, Daire O’Connor and Michael McCrudden also returned to the starting 11.
Cliftonville had a half-chance a few minutes in when Chris Curran picked out Daire O’Connor who made room, but his low attempt was easily smothered by Rory Brown.
Last week’s match winner in the Cup threatened at the other end as Rory Donnelly clipped in a cross which namesake Aaron was able to head clear.
McLaughlin called for improved forward play in the wake of that defeat and the early signs were positive.
Rory Hale crossed into the area and Levi Ives cut the ball back to Kris Lowe who drew a save from Rory Brown.
Aaron McCarey was called into the action after a quarter of an hour from a free-kick that was dangerously headed into the area by Paddy McClean.
It was end-to-end stuff in the opening quarter as a poor Rory Brown kick saw the ball drop to Kris Lowe and the defender returned his shot towards goal with a deflection taking it behind for a corner.
The closest the hosts came was midway through the half when Andrew Mitchell sent a low cross into the path of Jay Donnelly and Liam Bagnall was forced to intervene at the expense of a corner.
Rory Hale dragged a shot wide of the target and Caolan Marron blocked a Daire O’Connor attempt, but it was Glentoran who ended the half stronger.
Jay Donnelly let fly with a low attempt after a cushioned Mitchell header, though McCarey was able to deal with it.
McCarey then touched over a free-kick from Dale Gorman and Garry Breen steered a Conor McMenamin goal bound shot behind for a corner. From the resulting set-piece Rory Donnelly got his head to Gorman’s delivery but McCrudden cleared as it remained scoreless at the break.
Garry Breen hobbles off
Cliftonville began the second half on the front foot as Daire O’Connor shot off target on the turn and the midfielder then got his head on the end of an inch-perfect cross from substitute Seanan Foster and presented Michael McCrudden with a golden chance that he somehow failed to convert.
Former Reds’ midfielder Conor McMenamin almost provided the spark for the home side as he jinked past Aaron Donnelly and sent in a low cross with pace, but Andrew Mitchell couldn’t take advantage and the chance was gone.
The deadlock was broken after 63 minutes and it was Cliftonville who hit the front.
Daire O’Connor took the ball down and cut it back for Rory Hale whose shot from the edge of the box cannoned off the underside of the bar and bounced over the line to make it 1-0.
Glentoran instantly sought out the equaliser and Dale Gorman released McMenamin who shot over the bar and Gorman then shot straight at McCarey.
The pressure on the visitors intensified as Jay Donnelly saw his shot blocked on the edge of the area by Jamie Harney and Gael Bigirimana was unable to manufacture anything from the follow-up.
Having absorbed massive pressure, the introduction of Ryan Curran offered fresh attacking impetus.
He took the pressure off with an effort that was deflected behind for a corner and thought he had found the second goal himself when he fired past Brown from McCrudden’s knock-down, but the offside flag cut short Curran’s joy.
Glentoran were then caught out on the break and Cliftonville took full advantage. Daire O’Connor held the ball up and poked it to Ryan Curran around the corner, Curran returned it and O’Connor had the simplest of tasks to find McCrudden unmarked with the striker firing low past his Derry native Rory Brown to make it 2-0 and score his 14th of the season in the process.
It would prove to be the last meaningful action as Cliftonville saw the game out to claim a much-needed win and end their three game winless streak.
GLENTORAN: Brown, McCullough, Bigirimana (McDonagh 82), R Donnelly, Mitchell (O’Connor 58), McClean, McMenamin, Marron, Marshall, J Donnelly.
CLIFTONVILLE: McCarey, Harney, Lowe, Breen (Doherty 60), Ives (R Curran 72), Donnelly, C Curran, Bagnall (Foster 46), O’Connor, Lowe, McCrudden.
REFEREE: Keith Kennedy
