NIFL Premiership

Glentoran 1–0 Cliftonville 

CLIFTONVILLE suffered their second league defeat of the season as substitute Niall McGinn struck within four minutes of his introduction to give Glentoran a 1-0 win at The Oval on Saturday afternoon. 

Both sides lacked a clinical edge up until McGinn was sprung from the bench to make the difference for the hosts- who secured their first home win of the campaign at the third attempt.  

Reds' boss Jim Magilton insists that his sides tally of one point against Linfield, Larne and Glentoran isn’t acceptable to him or the players but believes they can feel hard done by given their effort in the three encounters. 

“The bottom line is if you want to be successful, which we do, and you want to play against the big boys, you have to be competitive for every minute of every game," he stressed.

"If you switch off, you get punished.

“The three teams that finished above us, we’ve taken a point, and that isn’t acceptable. That’s not good enough for me and the players most importantly. They’ve done well in large parts of those games and maybe feel hard done by, but it’s gone now, and we’ve got to lick our wounds and go on from this.”

Magilton named an unchanged eleven from the side that drew 1-1 with Larne seven days previous, with Kris Lowe recovering from a knock that he sustained late on in that Solitude stalemate. 

Cliftonville had the first half chance when Ben Wilson received a cut back in the area and turned to shoot, only for namesake Aidan to make a vital block. 

Shay McCartan then dropped a corner from the left on top of Jay Donnelly and Odhran Casey was forced to react quickly and half clear with the Glens eventually forcing a corner from the opposite side. 

Jay Donnelly closes down Odhran Casey
2Gallery

Jay Donnelly closes down Odhran Casey

Again, McCartan’s delivery was inch perfect, this time Aidan Wilson met it with his head and was only able to glance wide of the post. 

Odhran Casey brought down Shay McCartan at the edge of the box and the former Ballymena United midfielder was inches away from the resulting set-piece, which whistled a few yards wide of the post. 

Midway through the half, Ben Wilson rounded Aaron McCarey as he attempted to the break the deadlock, but Aidan Wilson was again on hand to prevent the Reds' talisman adding to his four goals already this term. 

A calamity of defensive errors almost allowed the Glens a sighting of goal after the half hour mark and Kris Lowe was forced to step in and thump the danger clear. 

Jonny Addis then shut down ex-Cliftonville attacker Daire O’Connor 10 minutes later, but it was the Reds who ended the half stronger. 

Ronan Doherty was teed up from a free kick and his thumping effort hit the wall and fell to Sam Ashford, his shot was further blocked, and Ben Wilson’s low shot was held by McCarey. 

Glens' shot-stopper McCarey was at full stretch to deny Wilson less than 60 seconds later after Rory Hale slipped in the frontman. 

In the final action of the half, Sean Stewart found Kris Lowe out wide and Lowe’s cross just evaded Sam Ashford at the back post as the sides headed in with the game scoreless. 

Cliftonville were first to threaten in the early stages of the second period as Ben Wilson saw Aaron McCarey claw his dinked effort over the bar. 

A few minutes later, Daire O’Connor floated in a dangerous cross which Casey was forced to turn behind, although the corner came to nothing. 

Shay McCartan scooped over the bar from O’Connor’s layoff and the hosts best chance came after the hour mark when O’Connor fizzed in a low cross which Casey got to ahead of Jay Donnelly at the near post. 

With 20 minutes remaining, The Reds turned to defence to attack with a long ball that picked out Wilson. The striker was unable to cut inside, and his strike was turned behind by McCarey at the expense of a corner. 

At the other end, Jay Donnelly outmuscled Jonny Addis and sent his shot into the side netting. 

The deadlock was broken in the 76th minute. On the field a mere four minutes, it was Niall McGinn who got on the end of Daire O’Connor’s hanging cross to the back post. McGinn took his man and steered a low shot into the bottom corner to send The Oval into delirium. 

McGinn almost turned provider for Shay McCartan a few minutes later, but McCartan sliced wide from inside the area. 

Magilton introduced Jack Berry, Chris Curran and Conor Pepper in a pursuit of a leveller and two of those substitutes almost combined for a 90th minute leveller. 

Conor Pepper dropped in a cross from the right that fell to Sean Stewart at the back post, and he steered the ball into the centre where Jack Berry was waiting to fire past the post. 

Glentoran successfully negotiated the remaining five minutes of injury time to claim their first home win of the season, a win that sees them overtake the Reds in the table. 

GLENTORAN: McCarey, Wilson, McCullough, McClean, Singleton, O’Connor (Boyd 90’), Sule, Palmer (Marshall 46’), Uzokwe (McGinn 72’), McCartan, Donnelly (Kelly 90+4’). 

CLIFTONVILLE: Gartside, Lowe, Addis, Turner, Stewart, Gallagher, Doherty, Casey (Pepper 85’), Rory Hale (C Curran 85’), Ashford (Berry 78’), Wilson. 

REFEREE: Andrew Davey