McLaughlin: Reds still have a lot to play for

PADDY McLaughlin insists that there is still a lot up for the grabs in the coming weeks despite Cliftonville’s disappointing Irish Cup defeat at the weekend.

The Reds will return to the scene of last weekend’s defeat when they face Glentoran at The Oval (3pm kick-off) looking to avoid a fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

Those defeats have seen any hopes of automatic European qualification go out the window but with a second bite of the cherry in the play-offs to come at the start of June, McLaughlin is adamant there is still much to play for.

“There is a lot to play for,” acknowledged McLaughlin.

“We’ve still got the European play-offs to look forward to and a couple of games before that to try and ensure we get home advantage, and we’ll try to take advantage of that. There’s a lot to play for, we can feel sorry for ourselves today and probably feel sorry for ourselves the next day but on Monday it’s back to work.

“We’ve another tough game on Saturday at The Oval again; we’ve got to prepare for it and if we let self-pity get the better of us now then it will be a frustrating end of the season for us. It’s my job to ensure that doesn’t happen.”

McLaughlin was boosted with the return of Jamie Harney, Chris Curran, Liam Bagnall and Ronan Doherty for Saturday’s Irish Cup defeat and expects Levi Ives and Daniel Kearns to be available for the weekend’s game in East Belfast.

“It’s important that we get our best players back from injury,” he stressed.

“We’ve had quite a number of them (injuries), and it was good to see some of them coming back today.

“I don’t think any of them did anything wrong at all in the game. I thought they worked their socks off for the team and the hard work and honesty was never in doubt - there is no question on that. I just think we lacked that wee bit quality going forward and it’s probably cost us.

“The stronger the squad the stronger we are. Having those boys back and Levi (Ives) and Daniel Kearns as well.

“Unfortunately, we’ll probably not see Joe (Gormley) until next season, but those boys will be back in contention for next week’s game. The stronger we are as a squad, the stronger we are on the pitch and it’s good to see those boys back.”

In the wake of Saturday’s Irish Cup exit, McLaughlin brushed off the suggestion that the long wait for the Cup run weighs heavily on the team and felt it was an opportunity to break it this season.

“It shouldn’t be. We should be excited and have the desire to be the team to end it,” admits McLaughlin.

“That’s the mentality we’re trying to install in the players to have the opportunity we could be the team to end that 42-year run. They have to embrace that and we should be taking it with both hands and driving on and doing all they can to put an end to it because I’m sure the supporters are sick of listening about it now - we are as players and as a club.

“The opportunity was there to end it, but it goes another year which is disappointing because it is getting more and more competitive. The opportunity was there and I think we let it pass us by this time.”

Paddy McLaughlin admits Joe Gormley is unlikely to be back on the pitch until next season
2Gallery

Paddy McLaughlin admits Joe Gormley is unlikely to be back on the pitch until next season

The Reds’ boss is hopeful for an improvement in their attacking third in the coming weeks and feels their form has dipped at a crucial time in the campaign.

“We were frustrated with our forward play,” McLaughlin reflected.

“I think we broke well in numbers and when we won it back, we got good numbers forward but our final pass and our final decision wasn’t good enough.

“It’s been disappointing for a couple of weeks now so it’s something we’ve got to work on.

“We’ve got good players here it’s just a dip in their form at the crucial time in the season for us and it’s disappointing.

“I’m not talking about attacking I’m talking about us as a team going forward. Our form has dipped just at the wrong time of the season.”