NIFL Premiership
Dungannon Swifts 2
Cliftonville 1
CLIFTONVILLE saw their three game winning run in the league grind to a halt after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds suffered a double whammy of having captain Rory Hale dismissed for a handball on the line and conceding the opener when Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe slammed home from the spot.
Dungannon doubled their lead through a Caolan Marron header before the break, but Joe Gormley halved the deficit early in the second half.
Jim Magitlon’s charges were unfortunate not to claim a share of the spoils with Conor Falls, Eric McWoods and Jack Keaney all going close to forcing a leveller, despite finishing the game a further player light when Jonny Addis picked up a second yellow card in late in the contest.
STREAK BREAKER: The Reds winning streak was ended after defeat away to Dungannon
Magilton felt his side started slowly but saw more positive traits in the second period.
“We didn’t get out of the blocks at all in the first half,” he reflected.
“We didn’t play particularly well with or without the ball – poor goals. We got cut open. We were coming here, they [Dungannon] are on a poor run and you’re hoping to capitalise on that and we didn’t.
“The one thing when you go down to 10-men is effort, courage and do-or-die and we got a bit of that in the second half. We got ourselves back into it. We did create opportunities to get back into the game further, but we didn’t take them and we lost the game.”
The Reds boss made three alterations to the side that started last weekend's injury time win against Ballymena United.
PJ Morrison returned in goal after picking up an injury pre-game, Harry Wilson dropped to the bench and on-loan Swifts attacker Brandon Bermingham was unavailable with Shea Gordon and Ryan Curran coming into the starting XI.
It was the Swifts who started brightly at Stangmore with former Glens striker Junior firing wide of the post after taking the ball down on the turn.
Junior thought he had stroked the hosts in front when he tapped home from a Rory Hale block on the line, but referee Declan Hassan pointed to the spot after Hale had kept out Tomas Galvin’s initial shot with his hand and he brandished a red card to Hale.
Uzokwe seized responsibility and coolly dispatched past PJ Morrison to give the Irish Cup holders a 1-0 lead.
Rodney McAree’s men were very much on top and doubled their lead past the half hour mark.
Kealan Dillon whipped in a dangerous free kick from the right and Caolan Marron rose highest to head the ball beyond the reach of Morrison and into the top left hand corner to make it 2-0 at the break.
Cliftonville readjusted at the break with a treble change, introducing Conor Barr, Sean Robertson and Callum McCay; the latter played a role in his side halving the deficit in the 52nd minute.
The Derry native slipped a forward pass to Micheál Glynn who in turn found Joe Gormley, he twisted and turned on the edge of the area before finding space to steer a low shot in off the post and past Declan Dunne to make it 2-1 and move closer toward his 300th strike.
Dungannon almost restored their two-goal advantage with Kealan Dillon curling a shot inches wide of the post.
The visitors threw caution to the wind as they chased down a leveller with Danny Wallace clearing off the line to prevent Jonny Addis restoring parity.
Jack Keaney then picked out substitute Eric McWoods whose shot was charged down by Declan Dunne and a further chance went abegging when Conor Falls headed inches over the bar.
Just before the conclusion Cliftonville were reduced to nine-men. Stand-in captain Jonny Addis caught Mal Smith late and was shown a second yellow card.
Try as they might, the Reds couldn’t force an equaliser as their four game winning run in all competitions came to an end.
DUNGANNON SWIFTS: Dunne, Scott, Wallace, Marron, Kelly, Glenny, Bigirimana (Smith 40’), Dillon (Maguire 69’), McAleese (Anderson 69’), Galvin (McAllister 46’), Junior.
CLIFTONVILLE: Morrison, Casey, Addis, Keaney, Pepper (Barr 46’), Gordon (McCay 46’), Fapetu (Falls 82’), Hale, Glynn, Curran (Robertson 46’), Gormley (McWoods 65’).
REFEREE: Declan Hassan
