NIFL Premiership

Larne 4–0 Cliftonville 

LARNE maintained top spot in the NIFL Premiership as they thumped 10-man Cliftonville at Inver Park on Friday.

A first half Paul O’Neill goal gave the hosts a 1-0 lead at the break and after Cliftonville had made a promising start to the second period, but the North Belfast outfit saw Sean Moore dismissed for a high tackle on Aaron Donnelly. 

Larne would make their numerical advantage count with Lee Bonis firing home three goals in the space of seven minutes to cement their place at the league summit. 

Reds' boss Paddy McLaughlin was less than impressed but some of the decisions that went against his side, but admits his sides performance wasn’t up to scratch. 

“It’s a harsh score-line because a lot of the controversial calls that were made in the game all went against us,” the Cliftonville manager insisted. 

“The red card had a major bearing on the game. It is a major call by the referee and I don’t believe it is the right one. We’ve had Joe Gormley go through one-on-one with the goalkeeper and he called it back 60 yards for a free-kick, rather than let us play the advantage and maybe let us score an equaliser. 

“He’s made two big calls in the game and both gone against us, but that’s not hiding behind a poor referring performance.

“We were poor in the first half; we were poor for the first half hour of the game and poor in the second half hour of the game. In-between that I thought we competed well, played some good stuff and created a couple of chances. 

“Joe has had a chance and Ronan has had a chance to equalise when we were down to 10 men, but the performance of the referee definitely has a lot to be desired.

“We just have to take his word on it if that is his honest assessment of the game and honest decision making, that’s fair enough. We just felt a lot of them were very controversial.”

McLaughlin made one change from last Fridays North Belfast derby as highly rated teenager Sean Moore was rewarded with his first league start of the season. 

Larne were first to threaten after a neat build-up and lay-off from Ben Doherty saw Paul O’Neill with an opportunity that flashed past the post. 

O’Neill went close again when Tomás Cosgrove charged down the right channel and clipped in a cross that the striker got on the end of, but his dipping effort was over the bar. 

It was largely one-way traffic in the opening half and midway through Cosgrove set-up Lee Bonis, but the ex-Portadown striker headed a promising chance past the post. 

Cliftonville created their first opening just before the half-hour mark when a free-kick was knocked down to Jamie McDonagh whose snapshot was turned around the post and behind by Rohan Ferguson in the Larne goal. 

At the other end, a dangerous Mark Randall cross was cut out in the nick of time by Chris Gallagher at the expense of a corner, which would come to nothing in the end. 

Leroy Millar was next to try his luck with a shot that curled around the post and behind. The pressure would eventually tell on the visitors and Larne hit the front 10 minutes before the break. 

Lee Bonis showed great determination to keep the ball in play for Leroy Millar whose shot was deflected onto the bar and as Cliftonville scrambled to clear, former striker Paul O’Neill nipped in to bundle home the opener. 

The Inver Reds almost doubled their lead in first half injury-time when Leroy Millar turned and saw his goal-bound shot hit Luke Turner and spin behind for a corner. Another followed but nothing came at the second time of asking as the league leaders took a 1-0 lead at the interval. 

Paddy McLaughlin introduced Chris Curran and Odhran Casey at the break and the Solitude side showed their intent at the beginning of the second period. 

Jonny Addis hoisted a high ball forward that bounced for McDonagh and he released Ronan Hale for a shot that was blocked by Ferguson at the near post. 

Substitute Casey was next to try his luck with a long-range effort that scaled the crossbar to the relief of the Larne goalkeeper. 

Nathan Gartside needed to be alert at the other end to turn a deflected Ben Doherty effort behind at his near post for a corner. 

The visitors' early momentum was quashed by the dismissal of young prodigy Sean Moore for catching Aaron Donnelly with a high foot and that prompted referee Steven Gregg to produce a red card. 

Sean Moore is shown a red card
2Gallery

Sean Moore is shown a red card

Larne tried to make immediate use of their numerical advantage when Lee Bonis was slipped through on goal, but Nathan Gartside calmly and coolly cleared his lines. 

With 20 minutes to go, Larne doubled their lead. Leroy Millar slipped in Paul O’Neill who in turn found Lee Bonis to bend a low shot into the corner of the net, much to the frustration of the Reds' players that felt Millar committed a foul on Odhran Casey in the build-up and that led to referee Gregg booking Nathan Gartside and Joe Gormley for dissent. 

The floodgates opened thereafter a Bonis saw an initial shot parried by Gartside and poked home the follow-up. 

Bonis completed his hat-trick and scored his third in seven minutes. Mark Randall had a shot saved by Nathan Gartside and the striker thumped the loose ball home to make it 4-0. 

The hosts thereafter saw the game out comfortably to cement their place at the top of the table. 

"When you score four goals against a team that's going to be right up there it's good," said Larne's Fuad Sule.

"But most importantly for me, it's the clean sheet and another for the collection this season. That's something we're trying to build on.

"I wasn't happy with the first 15 minutes of the second half as we got sloppy, but when Lee score the second goal the floodgates opened, the confidence grew and everyone was able to express themselves."

LARNE: Ferguson, Cosgrove, Bolger, Ward, Donnelly, Millar, Sule, Randall (Scott 78’), Doherty (Kelly 78’), Bonis (Lusty 81’), O’Neill (Kearns 78’). 

CLIFTONVILLE: Gartside, Lowe, Addis, Turner, Moore, Doherty, Gallagher (Casey 46’), Rory Hale (C Curran 46’), McDonagh (Gormley 64’), R Curran, Ronan Hale. 

REFEREE: Steven Gregg