IRISH CUP: Jay Donnelly treble aids Cliftonville to comfortable win over Sport & Leisure

Cliftonville boss Gerard Lyttle paid credit to Sport & Leisure Swifts but said his side fell below the standards he expects of them as the Reds made Tennent’s Irish Cup progress with a 4-0 win at Solitude.

Jay Donnelly plundered a hat-trick as the north Belfast outfit made light work of their Championship 2 visitors, but Lyttle was adamant in his assertion that the hosts should have performed better.

“Before the match, we spoke about getting some early goals and being ruthless,” he said.

“We got them - 2-0 up inside 10 minutes - and then we just stopped. I think we treated it like a stroll in the park and we did just enough to get by, but I wanted more than that. I wanted us to go out and really take control of the game but we seemed to slack off.

“Take nothing away from Sport & Leisure Swifts because they battled well, I just think we could have done better than we did.”

Donnelly rattled Cliftonville in front after just seven minutes and nodded home number two shortly afterwards.

The Swifts threatened through Kevin Lynch and Liam Carland in the first-half but fell further behind 18 minutes from time when Ryan Catney stroked home his second goal of the season ahead of Donnelly completing his treble from the penalty spot following goalkeeper Micheal Magill’s foul on substitute Daniel Hughes.

CLIFTONVILLE: Devlin, McGovern, Ives, Knowles, McDaid, Garrett, M Donnelly, Smyth, Catney, J Donnelly, Cosgrove. Subs: Bonner, Curran, Murray (McDaid, 60 mins), George (Garrett, 60 mins), Hughes (M Donnelly, 73 mins).

SPORT & LEISURE: Magill, P Lynch, Moore, McMullan, Carland, S Tully, Daly, McAuley, Largey, P Tully, K Lynch. Subs: Doherty (P Lynch, 53 mins), Gargan, McKissock, Gallagher (McAuley, 77 mins), Glenholmes (Largey, 69 mins).

REFEREE: Mervyn Smyth (Belfast)