Reds hold a slender advantage
Cliftonville's George McMullan with St Pats Darren Meenan
CLIFTONVILLE hold the advantage at the halfway stage of their Setanta Sports Cup joust with St Patrick’s Athletic thanks to a solitary Liam Boyce goal in an entertaining affair at Solitude last night.
The sides had also locked horns at the same stage of last year’s competition and, doubtless still reeling from losing out against the Belfast side, St Pat’s fans made the journey north with talk of revenge very much in the air.
The same could not be said for their team nor even their manager, however, with the Richmond Park outfit have undergone wholesale changes in the last 12 months.
Liam Boyce and Joe Gormley were the men entrusted to lead the line for a side who welcomed Martin Donnelly back from suspension as part of nine changes to the XI which started that loss at DC, with only George McMullan and Dermot McVeigh – partnered at the back by the returning David McAlinden - retaining their places.
McAlinden’s evening lasted just four minutes, however, and Ciaran Caldwell was jettisoned into a defence with more than an air of unfamiliarity about it -–a fact that Pat’s almost took advantage of on 11 minutes when Chris Forrester blasted a rasping drive inches past the upright.
At the other end, Boyce was unlucky to see a strike come back off the post and Joe Gormley twice went close before Reds keeper Ryan Brown got down well to deny Mark Rossiter before picking himself up to ensure Chris Fagan was unable to capitalise on the rebound.
The breakthrough came on 48 minutes when, with the visiting defence fully expecting Donnelly to try his luck with a 20-yard free-kick, he instead fed fellow Northern Ireland international Liam Boyce, whose thunderous shot proved too hot for keeper Brendan Clarke to handle.
Quite how Pat’s failed to register a vital away goal defies belief with Fagan first hitting the post when it looked easier to score and then, after James Chamber’s ferocious free-kick had struck the woodwork, Forrester somehow missed an open net with the visiting fans having already kicked-off their celebrations.
Just when it looked like a Saints goal was inevitable, it was visiting keeper Clarke who found himself the busier of the two shot-stoppers with superb late saves from Donnelly and Chris Scannell.
CLIFTONVILLE: Brown, McMullan, Garrett, Donnelly, Smyth, Seydak, McAlinden, Templeton, Gormley, McVeigh, Boyce. Subs: Connolly, C Scannell (for Gormley, 75 mins), Caldwell (for McAlinden, 4 mins), O’Carroll (for Garrett, 75 mins), McGonnigal, Cosgrove, Slane.
ST PAT’S: Clarke, O’Brien, Bermingham, Kenna, Browne, Chambers, Rossiter, Forrester, Meenan, Fagan, Carroll. Subs: O’Connor (for Carroll, 77 mins), Daly, Flynn, O’Flynn (for Meenan, 68 mins), Murphy, Kelly.
REFEREE: Raymond Hetherington (Dungannon)
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
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Wind direction: South west
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