NIFL Premiership

Glentoran 0–1 Cliftonville 

CLIFTONVILLE leapfrogged Glentoran into second place in the Danske Bank Premiership with a 1-0 win over the East Belfast side at The Oval on Tuesday evening. 

Paddy McLaughlin’s side nullified their opponents in the opening half and grabbed the all-important winner through Rory Hale early in the second period and withstood a Glens onslaught late on to move above Mick McDermott’s side. 

Reds’ boss McLaughlin praised his side for grinding out the win but downplayed the significance – instating the victory is no bigger than others in recent weeks. 

“It was a fantastic win,” he reflected.  

“It’s a real tough place to come. Glentoran are obviously a lot of people’s favourites to go and win the league.

“To come to their ground on a Tuesday night, whenever a lot of our boys are coming off the back of Friday night and a tough game and coming from work this morning, what a performance and what a result. 

“That’s all it is really, it’s only three points - we’re not reading too much into it. 

“It’s no bigger than beating Warrenpoint two weeks ago or beating Carrick the week before. They’re no bigger than that. It’s a huge three points surely, but it’s the same as any other three points - hard-earned and well deserved.”

McLaughlin named an unchanged side from Friday evening’s Irish Cup victory over Coleraine at Solitude. 

It was a cagey opening as both sides tried to test the opposition out. 

Glentoran thought they had the opener after 10 minutes when Jay Donnelly slipped the ball into the path of Conor McMenamin whose forward pass was turned home by Hrvoje Plum, but McMenamin’s run had resulted in the linesman’s flag being raised and the celebrations were cut short. 

At the other end, Jamie McDonagh scooped an effort over the bar on the turn, while the hosts forced another chance through a Plum free-kick that was flicked on by the head of Jay Donnelly, but Luke McNicholas comfortably claimed. 

Rhys Marshall closed down Daniel Kearns at the expense of a corner, which came to nothing, and a vital Caolan Marron interception extinguished a possible Ronan Doherty opening just after the half-hour mark. 

Glentoran upped their pursuit of an opener before the break as Rory Donnelly floated a high ball towards brother Jay at the back post, but McNicholas got there first. 

Then former Reds winger Conor McMenamin cut in and drove an effort high and past the post as the sides went in at the interval with the game poised and scoreless. 

The deadlock was broken six minutes after the restart at The Oval and it was Cliftonville who edged ahead. 

Luke Turner’s pass forward was flicked on by the boot of Daniel Kearns for Ryan Curran and he slipped in Rory Hale to slid underneath Aaron McCarey and into the net to make it 1-0. 

In response, Jay Donnelly flicked a header wide of the near post from a cross by brother Rory. The duo carved out a similar opportunity moments later and Jay’s close-range header was held by Luke McNicholas. 

The hosts’ pressure intensified as Hrvoje Plum sent in a low cross towards Donnelly and Kris Lowe did enough to snuff away the danger. 

Jay Donnelly is closed down by Levi Ives and Luke Turner
2Gallery

Jay Donnelly is closed down by Levi Ives and Luke Turner

Cliftonville were trying to soak up and pressure and midway through the second half they had the chance to double their lead through in-form Jamie McDonagh, but his low shot was parried by McCarey. 

With less than a quarter of an hour remaining, a double opportunity presented itself for Paddy McLaughlin’s side. 

Kris Lowe clipped in a cross that McDonagh attacked, but McCarey did enough to quell the danger, then Levi Ives showed great composure and laid the ball off to Ryan Curran whose goal-bound shot was blocked by Bobby Burns amid huge shouts for handball in the area, referee Tim Marshall was uninterested though and waved for play to continue. 

The Glens went all out in search of an equaliser with Jay Donnelly seeing a near-post shot smothered by McNicholas and on 90 minutes Bobby Burns scuffed an effort wide from inside the box. 

Thereafter, the Reds saw out the remaining time to leapfrog their East Belfast opponents into second place in the table. 

GLENTORAN: McCarey, Burns, Marshall, J Donnelly, R Donnelly (McDaid 70), Murray (O’Connor 83), Clucas, Marron, McMenamin, Plum, Cole (McCartan 74). 

CLIFTONVILLE: McNicholas, Lowe, Addis (Coates 60), Turner, Ives, Gallagher, Doherty, Hale (Gormley 65), Kearns (Donnelly 84), McDonagh (C Curran 84), R Curran. 

REFEREE: Tim Marshall