Pre-season friendly
Cliftonville 1-0 Dungannon Swifts
CLIFTONVILLE’S penultimate pre-season clash saw them welcome Dungannon Swifts to Solitude on Tuesday evening where a second-half Ronan Doherty strike proved the difference between the sides.
The Swifts started brightly in North Belfast with Keith Cowan glancing a header wide of the target and a curling effort from the edge of the box going wide in the aftermath.
Alex Moore in the Swifts’ goal was equal to Ryan Curran’s effort and denied Daniel Kearns a few minutes later with Jamie McDonagh guiding a shot wide of the post between chances.
McDonagh was proving the Reds' most potent threat and he cut the ball back to Rory Hale, whose shot was blocked on the edge of the area.
The winger flashed a further opportunity agonisingly past the post and wasn’t far away with another effort before the break as it remained scoreless at the interval.
Ryan Curran had a chance to break the deadlock early in the second half after Levi Ives flicked the ball into his path, though Curran dragged a low shot wide of the post.
Another chance went a begging through Ronan Doherty before the Swifts threatened through Ryan Mayse and Rhys Campbell.
The game’s only goal arrived on 72 minutes as Rory Hale split the Swifts’ defence with a pass that Ronan Doherty raced onto and slotted home to make it 1-0.
Swifts’ substitute Darragh McBrien let fly with a speculative effort which wasn’t far away from finding the net in response.
The Reds missed the chance to double their lead when Jamie McDonagh went short with a corner to Rory Hale and sent in an inch-perfect cross which was headed back across the face of goal by a trialist and Calvin McCurry guided his header over the bar.
Dungannon almost levelled in injury-time, but Ryan Mayse fizzed a low effort past the post and Cliftonville held out for a narrow victory against Premiership opposition in their penultimate pre-season encounter with their final preparation coming against Portadown on Friday evening (7.45pm kick-off) at Solitude.
CLIFTONVILLE: McNicholas, Ives (McGuiness), Harney (Addis), C Curran (Casey), Hale, R Curran (McCurry), McDonagh, Doherty, Gallagher, Kearns (Foster), Trialist. Unused Subs: Dunne, Davidson, Scannell, Morgan, D Breen.
DUNGANNON SWIFTS: Moore (Trialist 2), McGee (Gallagher), Knowles (Devlin), Cowan, McGinty (McBrien), Glynn (Conway), Smyth (Trialist 1), Mayse, Campbell, McAleer (Trialist 3), McCready (Glenny).
REFEREE: Lee Tavinder
