NIFL Premiership
Glenavon 0-2 Cliftonville
CLIFTONVILLE made it six league wins on the spin and moved into second place with a 2-0 win over Glenavon at Mourneview Park on Saturday afternoon.
A gale-force wind made conditions difficult in Lurgan, but Cliftonville took advantage of playing with the elements in the opening period and led through a Paul O’Neill tap-in at the break.
Joe Gormley headed home his side’s second early after the restart and from then on, the Solitude side saw the game out to move into second place ahead of Glentoran who were held to a draw by Ballymena United.
Reds’ assistant manager Declan O’Hara was pleased with his side's display and felt they were worthy of all three points.
“It was a good performance in what is a hard venue,” reflected O’Hara.
“The sun was shining but the conditions were tough with the gale-force wind but we got our goals either side of the break in what was a game of two halves.
“We’ve always said we’re taking things a game at a time and today was the biggest game of the season. To win 2-0 and take all three points, we’re more than happy with the day’s work.”
Cliftonville boss Paddy McLaughlin made two changes to the side that won the League Cup with victory over Coleraine the previous weekend.
Match winners Joe Gormley and Paul O’Neill came into the starting line-up at the expense of Ronan Doherty and Ronan Hale.
Cliftonville played with the wind advantage in the opening period but both sides cancelled each other out in the early stages, and it was Glenavon who carved out the first opening midway through the first half.
Jonny Taylor’s goal-kick dropped to Andy Waterworth on halfway and the striker flicked the ball to Matt Fitzpatrick who spotted the run of Peter Campbell. Fitzpatrick’s excellent ball released Campbell in behind Kris Lowe and his thumping shot crashed off the underside of the crossbar with Luke McNicholas beaten.
It was an opportunity the hosts would rue as Cliftonville hit the front on 26 minutes. Levi Ives’ long throw was attacked by Paul O’Neill and the striker’s flick-on at the near post beat Taylor and made it 1-0.
Matthew Snoddy closes in on Levi Ives 
Ives almost contributed to a second a few minutes later, but his corner somehow evaded the danger in the area.
The duo almost combined again for a carbon copy of the opener. Ives’ throw-in was inadvertently headed towards goal by Robbie Garrett, and it fell to O’Neill at the back post, but O’Neill scooped the ball over the bar.
Jonny Taylor breathed a huge sigh of relief before the break as Joe Gormley let fly with a low curling effort that was inches past the post as it remained 1-0 at the interval.
Gormley would claim his goal four minutes after the restart when Ryan Curran threaded the ball to Jamie McDonagh on the wing and McDonagh’s perfect delivery was met by the 32-year-old whose downward header beat Taylor.
Andrew Hall called Luke McNicholas into action a few minutes later from a free-kick that curled around the wall but into the gloves of the on-loan Sligo Rovers goalkeeper.
Just before the hour-mark, the hosts had a penalty appeal waved away when the ball bounced up and hit the hand of Jonny Addis on the edge of the area, but referee Tony Clarke wasn’t interested in the subsequent complaints.
The Lurgan Blues found it difficult to navigate a route to goal as Cliftonville attempted to soak up the pressure against the wind.
Calum Birney saw his header drift wide of the post from a Matthew Snoddy cross in the last 10 minutes and Matt Fitzpatrick then flashed a half-volley wide of goal.
At the other end, Levi Ives was kept at bay by Taylor as the Glenavon ’keeper got down low to turn the left-back’s free-kick behind at the expense of a corner, which would come to nothing.
At the conclusion Cliftonville ran out 2-0 winners and leapfrogged Glentoran into second place in the table and maintained their four-point gap with leaders Linfield.
GLENAVON: Taylor, Birney, Haughey, Waterworth, Campbell, Hall (O’Mahony 62), Snoddy, Fitzpatrick, Wallace, Singleton, Garrett (Doyle 65).
CLIFTONVILLE: McNicholas, Lowe (Coates 46), Addis, Turner, Ives, C Curran, Gallagher, McDonagh (McDermott 90+3), R Curran, O’Neill, Gormley (Doherty 86).
REFEREE: Tony Clarke
