Cliftonville confirm contract extension for striker who has shown 'character, resilience and quality' to bounce back from serious injury
Cliftonville have confirmed striker Ryan Curran has signed a new one-year contract extension to remain at Solitude heading into next season.
The 31-year-old recovered from a serious injury which resulted in him missing the entirety of the 2023/24 season and registered 37 Premiership appearances last term, scoring 11 goals to finish as the club’s second-highest marksman behind Joe Gormley, who also agreed a fresh deal on Saturday.
Curran has previously spent time at Derry City, Finn Harps and Ballinamallard United before joining Cliftonville in 2018, where he has played 270 times.
He helped the Reds win a League Cup crown under Paddy McLaughlin and picked up another medal after starting in last season’s showpiece decider against Glentoran at Windsor Park as Jim Magilton’s men ran out 1-0 victors in extra-time.
Curran also started in their agonising Irish Cup final defeat against Dungannon Swifts and featured in both European play-off fixtures as the Reds booked their continental return.
Speaking to the News Letter last month, Magilton praised Curran’s mentality after bouncing back from a lengthy layoff.
"Ryan Curran deserves so much credit,” said Magilton. “Ryan has played over 40 games after not playing for a year, so that tells you something about his character, his resilience and quality.
"Ryan Curran will be so hard on himself even though it's the last thing he should be - he should be applauding and congratulating himself because of what he has had to go through to get himself back on the pitch. He has had a great season for us."
The Reds are set to embark on a fresh full-time chapter under new ownership, the Toronto Investment Group, but Magilton insisted there would remain a place for their experienced stars.
"Nobody is going to be rushing into anything,” Magilton told the News Letter. “We are going to cater for everybody and we're going to manage that.
"We will speak to the players and will put together a proposal for the players down the line if that's what is going to happen.
"The benefit is we have an U18-20 programme that is working full-time every day, we have young players like Ryan Corrigan and Keevan Hawthorne and it's why we have brought in the likes of Axel Piesold who is going to be a really good player, (Arran) Pettifer, (Lewis) Ridd and others like them.
"There are a lot of pieces in the jigsaw box and we just have to stick them together now."