Cliftonville’s Jim Magilton ‘never a penalty’ claim after losing out to Larne but backs red card for his own player
Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton finished firm "it was never a penalty” after watching Larne claim control at Solitude from the spot in the Sports Direct Premiership clash on Friday.
Magilton’s Reds broke the deadlock off a Rory Donnelly header on 17 minutes from Ronan Doherty’s corner-kick.
Tomas Cosgrove left it level for the back-to-back Irish League champions after the interval following good work by Sean Graham.
Larne then grabbed the upper hand from the penalty spot past the hour mark as Andy Ryan stepped up to convert having been fouled by Jonny Addis in an incident which left the latter receiving a straight red card from referee Christopher Morrison.
Substitute Paul O’Neill made it 3-1 by steering in Graham’s delivery.
Magilton was clear in his view on the penalty.
"At the time I thought he was well outside the box," said Magilton on BBC Sport NI. “I thought it was a red card, but the referee just needed to take a second, he was very quick with the penalty decision.
"I thought Jonny (Addis) had to go - he was the last man and he has clearly pushed him, so the red card was without debate.
"But it was never a penalty, he was never anywhere near the box in terms of being inside.
"So I thought it was a really poor decision.”
Larne boss Tiernan Lynch has been linked to Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone with his club now third in the Premiership table on 14 points from seven games.
Larne’s fixture list features a League Cup tie at H&W Welders on Tuesday before kicking off the landmark UEFA Conference League campaign at Molde next Thursday.
Cliftonville sit on the same tally of league points, having played nine games.
Linfield hold top spot on 17 points from eight games heading into Saturday.