Toals County Antrim Shield Quarter-final 

Cliftonville 4-2 Bangor 

CLIFTONVILLE avoided a potential County Antrim Shield embarrassment with four goals inside of 13 minutes capping a 4-2 comeback win over Bangor in the quarter-final tie at Solitude on Tuesday evening. 

The Seasiders were ahead through Ryan Arthurs early on and dared to dream of an upset when Gerard McMullan netted before the hour-mark. 

It awoke Cliftonville from their slumber as Daniel Kearns began the revival and Aaron Donnelly headed home the equaliser. 

Joe Gormley then got in on the act and gave his side the lead before capping off victory with little under a quarter of an hour remaining to ensure the Solitude side will be in the hat for the last four draw. 

Reds’ boss Paddy McLaughlin admitted it was a frustrating evening and rued having to take off youngsters Michael Morgan and Sean Moore who had made their debuts. 

“It was a frustrating old night, especially for the first hour,” he admitted. 

“I’m just disappointed that the two young lads that made their debut had to be sacrificed at half-time to get a wee bit more experience on.

“It was no fault of their own. I think us as a team were disappointing. 

“We had to get forward thinking players on the pitch in Joe and Currany. It was no reflection on their performance, I thought the two boys did well and did all they could for the service they got. 

“We had to make the changes and for the last half hour of the game. It was a bit more like us, playing on the front foot with a bit more quality.”

McLaughlin made a host of changes to his starting 11 and debuts were handed to 16-year-olds Michael Morgan and Sean Moore. 

Bangor stunned Solitude by taking a fifth minute lead when Ryan Arthur met a left-wing cross from Ben Arthurs and headed past Luke McNicholas to make it 1-0. 

Paul O’Neill almost had Cliftonville back on terms, but his shot was steered off the line by Reece Neale. 

Free-kicks from Aaron Donnelly and O’Neill were inches away from the target, while Ronan Doherty dragged an effort wide and lofted another over the bar.

In between, Gerard McMullan hooked an effort over at the other end as the visitors maintained their advantage at the interval. 

Bangor made a bright opening to the second period with Seanan Foster having to make a recovering tackle to stop Ben Arthurs in his tracks. 

Arthurs had another opportunity gifted to him after a defensive mix-up, but he was denied by Luke McNicholas and the Reds’ ’keeper needed to pull off a smart save after Gerard McMullan laid the ball off to Mark Cooling. 

The Seasiders deservedly doubled their lead just before the hour-mark after Cliftonville failed to clear a corner and Gerard McMullan profited. 

Paddy McLaughlin responded instantly by calling Joe Gormley from the bench and his impact would come later in the game. 

Bangor’s two-goal lead was wiped out on 62 minutes as Daniel Kearns guided Donnelly’s off-target effort to the net.  

Just 10 minutes later, parity was restored when Jamie McDonagh crossed for Aaron Donnelly to bundle home the equaliser.  

The turnaround was complete within 60 seconds when Gormley latched onto a forward pass and picked his spot low past Matthew Anderson to make it 3-2. 

Gormley doubled his goal tally and the Reds’ lead with less than a quarter of an hour remaining, netting from a perfect McDonagh cross to seal a place in the last four for the 2019-20 winners. 

CLIFTONVILLE: McNicholas, Foster, Casey (Gormley 59), Harney, Donnelly, C Curran, Doherty, Moore (McDonagh 46), Kearns, Morgan (R Curran 46), O’Neill. 

BANGOR: Anderson, Beattie, Neale, Fletcher, Hume, Devine, Harrison (O’Neill 80), B Arthurs (Moffett 80), Cooling, McMullan (Storey 62), Arthur. 

REFEREE: Evan Boyce