Toals County Antrim Shield quarter-final
Cliftonville 1-0 Glentoran
BEN QUINN struck early in the second half as Cliftonville’s five-game losing run came to an end at the expense of Glentoran with a 1-0 victory over the East Belfast side in the quarter-final of the Toals County Antrim Shield at Solitude on Tuesday evening.
Under the cosh for large stages of the first half, Quinn notched his fifth goal of the season and it was the difference at the conclusion as Jim Magilton's side march onto a semi-final meeting at home to Bangor next month.
The Reds boss was full of praise for his side's courage and character throughout and pinpointed their ambition in attacking areas.
“We made one change, Rhyss Campbell was injured from Saturday – again we’ll have to see how he recovers, maybe a couple of weeks,” Magilton outlined.
“Liam [McStravick] came in and he gave us real energy and quality. We felt we had to go again, and it was important that we did and showed courage and real character and resilience tonight.
“You’re up against a top quality side and top quality players. We took our chance really well, from defending a set-piece to scoring and it was great in that transition. We had other opportunities to kill the game, but you know that they are going to put balls in the top and we are going to have to defend that. They will probably feel a bit aggrieved at decisions that didn’t go their way.
“Things have gone against us over the last few weeks, the odd goal was beating us and building on Saturday where there were a lot of good things on Saturday. I just felt that we needed to show more ambition in attack and more courage in attack. We got that in bits and pieces, we’ve got to recover now and go again on Saturday”.
Magilton made one change from the weekend's narrow defeat at Coleraine as Liam McStravick replaced Rhyss Campbell in attack.
The Reds almost took an early lead when Liam McStravick closed the ball down at the edge of the box and floated in a cross that Ben Quinn nodded wide.
Thereafter it was a half that Glentoran controlled, their first opening came when Jordan Jenkins chased a ball into the box, though with PJ Morrison committed a heavy touch from Jenkins saw the pass run behind.
Then on the quarter hour mark a backpass by Shaun Leppard to PJ Morrison saw Conor McMenamin nip in, but he was unable to pick out Jenkins in the middle and the hosts' blushes were spared.
Kyle McClelland was forced to depart on the half hour mark, a few minutes after he blocked a Jenkins effort at close range following a low McMenamin cross into the box.
Jenkins stroked home the winner in the side's league meeting in September and he thought he had opened the scoring again, but referee Steven Gregg blew for a foul after he adjudged that Jenkins had illegally backed into PJ Morrison who spilled a Marcus Kane cross.
In first half injury time a McMenamin effort from the edge of the box was easily dealt with by Morrison as the visitors failed to make their pressure pay and it remained goalless at the break.
Rory Hale miscued a promising opportunity early in the second half before the deadlock was finally broken.
Cliftonville turned defence to attack and Brian Healy played a through ball that Ben Quinn met before Glens keeper Billy Crellin and he rolled the ball to the net to make it 1-0.
The Reds should have doubled their lead when Zeno Rossi blocked a Liam McStravick shot and the loose ball broke to Harry Wilson who flashed a shot inches past the near post.
Cliftonville’s Liam McStravick and Glentoran’s Marcus Kane
In response, Pat McCourt and Tim McCann made quickfire changes, introducing the experience of Ross Clarke and last season's top-scorer Pat Hoban in search of a leveller.
Substitute Ben Gallagher shot over from the edge of the box and a low Clarke shot hit the post with little over ten minutes remaining.
The final stages was largely a Glentoran onslaught. First, Marcus Kane flashed a wicked effort over the bar from 25-yards and the visitors best chance to draw level came in the 89th minute when Ryan Cooney’s cross fell to Gallagher at the backpost and his shot stuck the outside of the post.
Cliftonville survived four additional minutes and hung on for a hard earned victory which boss Jim Magilton will hope it can prove the catalyst in turning their five-game losing run in the league on its head.
CLIFTONVILLE: Morrison, Samuels (Hawthorne 81’), Leppard, McClelland (Wightman 30’), Bannon, Wilson, Hale, McMaster, Quinn (Sheridan 81’), Healy (Gormley 89’), McStravick (Conlon 81’).
GLENTORAN: Crellin, Cooney, Kane, Rossi, McEneff (Clarke 66’), Daniels (Malone 66’), Sloggett (Gallagher 71’), Larmour, McMenamin, Jenkins (Hoban 71’), Douglas (Rogers-Duffy 80’).
REFEREE: Steven Gregg
