Cliftonville 'not going away' despite Larne defeat claims assistant manager Declan O'Hara

​The Reds now trail the leaders – who also have a game in hand – by three points after goals from Leroy Millar and Andy Ryan put a dent in their title ambitions.

It was a tough day at the office for Paddy McLaughlin’s men with the visitors struggling to create much but O’Hara says Cliftonville are “not going away”.

"There's a long way to go,” he said. “There are nine games and 27 points to play for.

"We all know that this league is crazy at the minute and anybody can win it. We're delighted to be where we are but we're not finished yet.

"We want to challenge and go to the last day - that's what we are in the game for. We're not here to make up the numbers.

“We are here to push ourselves as much as we can and we're here for the fight - we're not going away."

O’Hara paid credit to their opponents, who are now unbeaten in seven league games.

Larne’s last defeat was against Cliftonville at Solitude on January 2 but Tiernan Lynch’s side were able to reverse that outcome relatively comfortably.

"We came here at the start of the season and they battered us four and we came here today thinking of matching them up and credit to them - they kept the ball and in the first half we couldn't get near them,” he added. "It's just frustrating because we work hard in training every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday when we are doing our sessions.

“And it's all possession-based and when we don't have it we work hard to get it.

"We did work hard but that's the way games go.

"They had more of the ball in the whole game and that's the way it goes."

O’Hara is looking for a quick response – with Cliftonville hosting red-hot Glentoran next weekend in the Premiership.

They will be sweating on the fitness of teenage sensation Sean Moore, who was subbed off after 25 minutes with an ankle injury.

"We have to be ready for next week because at Solitude against Glentoran is massive,” he said. "We want to be in these games with a full house today, full house next week and those are the games we look forward to.”