NIFL Premiership
Cliftonville 4–0 Portadown
CLIFTONVILLE moved four points clear at the top of the table after a comfortable 4-0 win over Portadown at Solitude on Tuesday evening.
Joe Gormley helped himself to a first half hat-trick and was brought down early in the second period, allowing Ryan Curran to finish the job for Paddy McLaughlin’s side from the spot.
The Reds’ boss insists he didn’t take their 3-0 lead for granted at the interval and was delighted the early goal in the second half killed off any chance of a Portadown revival.
“At 3-0 it was a commanding lead, but we didn’t take anything for granted,” reflected McLaughlin.
“If Portadown scored the next goal, it could have made us nervous and it could have been game back on. To score straight away in the second half, it was a good, efficient performance from the boys, and you’ve got to give them all the credit in the world.
“They scored the fourth goal and that was probably the one that took the wind out of Portadown, and it takes away that hope of a comeback.
“You don’t take it for granted, you still have to go and work hard, and boys done that throughout the game so fair play to them.”
McLaughlin was forced into one change from the side that defeated Glenavon at the weekend.
Rory Hale dropped out through injury and captain Chris Curran returned to the starting 11.
Cliftonville wasted no time in hitting the front and were ahead inside of five minutes when Aaron Donnelly picked out Jamie McDonagh with a fantastic long ball and McDonagh’s cross was met by a downward header from Joe Gormley to make it 1-0.
The Ports almost hit back immediately through a Lee Bonis half-volley that Declan Dunne fumbled behind for a corner.
Midway through the half, the hosts doubled their lead and it was another piece of brilliance from Gormley.
The striker weaved his way inside and from an acute angle, he dinked the ball goalwards and it proceeded to hit the post and Paul Finnegan on the way to the net to make it 2-0.
Gormley's cross comes off the post and ends up in the net for his second
Things got worse for the visitors on 34 minutes when Gormley made it 3-0. Ronan Doherty’s attempted header towards Gormley was only helped on by Ports defender Barney McKeown and the striker took full advantage of the gift to ensure his side were in cruise control at the interval.
Any hopes of a Portadown comeback were firmly extinguished seven minutes after the restart when Greg Hall brought down Gormley inside the area and referee Evan Boyce pointed to the spot.
Ryan Curran was tasked with extending his side’s lead and made no mistake from 12-yards, rolling the ball to the right of Jethren Barr for his eighth goal of the season.
The closest Portadown came to a consolation was a gilt-edged opportunity that fell to Bonis, but he miscued in front of the target and Declan Dunne gathered easily.
There were no further goals as Cliftonville ran out 4-0 winners to move four points ahead of Linfield at the top of the table, although the champions have a game in hand.
CLIFTONVILLE: Dunne, Lowe (Coates 64), Turner, Addis (Harney 56), Donnelly, Gallagher, Doherty (Kearns 56’), C Curran, McDonagh (Foster 64), R Curran, Gormley (O’Neill 57).
PORTADOWN: Barr, Hall, Ruddy, McCallum, Finnegan, McKeown (Lavery 56), Tipton, Bonis (Anderson 69), Conaty, S Teggart, E Teggart (Warde 56).
REFEREE: Evan Boyce
