Clearer Water Irish Cup, Round Six

Cliftonville 4-0 Loughgall 

Cliftonville ensured safe progression to the quarter-final of the Clearer Water Irish Cup with a 4-0 win over Loughgall at Solitude on Saturday afternoon. 

Joe Gormley made the breakthrough before half-time and a quickfire double from Hale brothers, Ronan and Rory, effectively secured victory before the hour mark. 

The younger of the Hale siblings secured his brace and brought his scoring tally to 15 for the season late on to secure a last eight tie with Championship high-flyers Portadown. 

Reds’ boss Jim Magilton admitted that the half-time break couldn’t come soon enough in order to rejig things a little, due to the problems that Loughgall posed in the opening half. 

“They were a very good team who posed lots of problems, the first half especially,” he acknowledged. 

“I thought they set up really well and again, they frustrated us through how well they played. It was the same in the league here. 

“It was no surprise to us because they’ve got a really good manager and a really good coaching staff who tactically set themselves to pose problems, and they did. 

“We couldn’t wait for half time to come to be honest so we could rejig things, especially in midfield, where we just thought that we were getting a little bit overrun and vacated in midfield a little bit too quickly. 

“We managed to do that, and it was important again for a clean sheet and building from that foundation because the attacking options we have are very important. Again, they came to the fore.”

Magilton made three alterations to the XI that defeated Carrick Rangers on Friday evening. Illness ruled out Sean Stewart who was replaced by Stephen McGuinness at left back. 

Luke Turner’s departure to St Patrick’s Athletic allowed Shea Gordon to make his first start since his January arrival, whilst Stephen Mallon returned from injury and replaced Chris Curran who dropped to the bench. 

It was the Villagers who started on the front foot and they almost hit the front inside of 60 seconds when Caolan McAleer found Andrew Hoey and his attempt was charged down at the expense of a corner. 

McAleer then ran onto a flick on from Nathaniel Ferris, but his attempted return was cut out by David Odumosu. 

The hosts’ first effort on target came just shy of the first quarter of the game when Ronan Doherty’s curling effort was palmed away by Berraat Turker and Jonny Addis’ follow-up crashed off the bar. 

The deadlock was broken in the 32nd minute. Shea Gordon lifted a high ball over to Ronan Hale and he slipped a through ball to Joe Gormley to fire underneath the dive of Turker and into the net to make it 1-0. 

They should have doubled their lead two minutes later, this time Stephen Mallon found Gordon on the overlap and his cross come shot evaded Ronan Hale’s slide and crashed off the post. 

Loughgall missed a golden opportunity to restore parity before the break. Caolan McAleer clipped a ball to Andrew Hoey who was unmarked at the back post, but Hoey somehow guided his header wide of the post as Gormley’s goal was the difference at the interval. 

Gormley lifted an early second half effort onto the roof of the net and was only able to steer his attempted pass to Rory Hale into the arms of Berraat Turker a few minutes later. 

They would double their lead in the 54th minute. Odhran Casey combined with Stephen Mallon who cut in between two defenders and picked out Ronan Hale in the area. Hale twisted and turned before firing low to the net via a deflection from Pablo Andrade. 

Within two minutes it was game, set and match for Cliftonville. Joe Gormley ran onto a pass down the channel and turned into the area, found Rory Hale and he blasted home to make it 3-0. 

Benji Magee went close to pulling one back midway through the second half, but it was Cliftonville who sealed an emphatic win late on. 

Substitute Sam Ashford was unselfish in sliding a pass to the back post where Ronan Hale was waiting to tap home and double his account for the afternoon, in the process wrapping up a 4-0 win which guaranteed a place in the quarter-final draw and a trip to Portadown at the beginning of March. 

CLIFTONVILLE: Odumosu, Kearney (Pepper 69’), Casey, Addis, McGuinness, Doherty (Lowe 69’), Gordon, Rory Hale (C Curran 61’), Mallon (Kenny 69’), Ronan Hale, Gormley (Ashford 61’). 

LOUGHGALL: Turker, Rea, Murdock (Carson 86’), Kelly, Andrade, Ferris (Gibson 75’), Hoey, Norton (Brogh 75’), McAleer (Boyd 64’), Carroll (Cartwright 75’), Magee. 

REFEREE: Jamie Robinson