Cliftonville 'extends sincere best wishes' to departing players after confirmation of summer exits
Cliftonville have confirmed six players will be departing Solitude this summer upon expiry of their respective contracts.
Kris Lowe and Declan Breen have already agreed deals to join Glenavon and Ballymena United respectively while Arran Pettifer, Ruaidhri Donnelly, Destiny Ojo and Ryan Markey will also move on.
Versatile Lowe racked up 154 appearances across all competitions for the Reds after joining from Dungannon Swifts in 2021 and played an important role in their historic Irish Cup-winning campaign, starting in both the quarter-final and semi-final win over Larne.
The 29-year-old played 17 times in the Premiership for Jim Magilton’s men last term.
Breen came through the youth ranks at Solitude and while he never registered a senior appearance, the goalkeeper spent two seasons on loan at Ballyclare Comrades before joining Ballymena on a two-year deal.
Donnelly had previously confirmed his Cliftonville departure, bringing an end to an injury-hit third stint with the North Belfast club – the former Glentoran forward made 18 appearances last season, scoring once.
"Firstly I wanna thank Jim for the chance he gave me to put a Reds top back on, always an honour wearing that top,” Donnelly posted on social media. “It has been a difficult and frustrating season on and off the pitch for myself and I truly believe no player deserves a contract without fighting for one, which I was unable to do due to injury.
"Secondly I would like to thank all my team mates and staff at the club, this year hasn’t been easy but just wanna say I’m proud of how everybody stuck together.
"Lastly to you the fans, personally I wanna say thank you for welcoming me back to the club and sorry again that I couldn’t keep myself fit. I pushed myself to the limits to try and get myself back for the end of the season.
"Just didn’t happen for me, that’s football though.
"The Reds fan base is something else. Thank you Cliftonville Football Club, once a Red, always a Red.”
Ojo, who joined last summer, produced one of the club’s highlights of the season when he scored a dramatic late winner to seal Cliftonville’s spot in the BetMcLean Cup final by beating Larne at Inver Park before going on to lift the trophy in March following victory over Glentoran.
Former Bolton Wanderers youth product Pettifer arrived from St Patricks Athletic in August and played 27 times in all competitions while striker Markey racked up 14 appearances.
A statement from the club read: “Everyone at the Reds thanks all six players for their services and extends sincere best wishes for the future, with supporters advised that further squad updates will follow in the weeks ahead.”