Soccer

Cliftonville keep on winning to retain top spot as title race hots up

Paddy McLaughlin says Cliftonville are in the title mix after watching his side bank another three points at home to Glenavon
Paddy McLaughlin says Cliftonville are in the title mix after watching his side bank another three points at home to Glenavon Paddy McLaughlin says Cliftonville are in the title mix after watching his side bank another three points at home to Glenavon

Danske Bank Irish Premiership: Cliftonville 1 Glenavon 0

A COOL finish from substitute Thomas Maguire completed a perfect festive period for Cliftonville as they retain top spot entering 2020.

Livewire Maguire entered the fray after just 17 minutes for the injured Chris Curran (hamstring) and slotted home on the cusp of half-time after a brilliant flicked pass from the man of the moment Conor McMenamin.

It was one rare piece of quality at Solitude yesterday as the demanding run of Christmas fixtures – four in 12 days – appeared to take its toll on the Reds and gutsy Glenavon.

Paddy McLaughlin’s men banked 12 points out of 12 – beating Coleraine, Crusaders and Larne and now Glenavon - and lead Linfield by three points although the Blues have a game in hand over their north Belfast rivals.

Glenavon’s defensive performance yesterday belied the half century of goals they’ve conceded already this season, as they put Reds front men Joe Gormley and Ryan Curran under house arrest in an encounter that lacked the intensity of their three previous outings.

But Maguire did find space ghosting in from the wing to side foot the ball past Johnny Tuffey to claim his first goal in his fledgling senior career.

“Losing Chrissy [Curran] is a massive blow but look at his replacement today [Thomas Maguire] – he comes on and scores the winner,” beamed McLaughlin.

“Thomas has been brilliant. There was a bit made out of him coming off against Coleraine after coming on in the game, but he did his job and it only took him 30 minutes to do what was required. And he came off when we were under the cosh.

“I thought he was excellent in the second half against Larne too. He’s a good lad and he’s a total professional.”

There weren’t too many highlights to sift through at Solitude yesterday as Glenavon went close a couple of times from corner-kicks while Josh Daniels had one effort from distance deflected onto the roof of Richard Brush’s net on 76 minutes.

McLaughlin added: “We definitely knew we wouldn’t get the intensity that we’re used to; there was no way in the world it was possible.

“Every manager and coach in the Irish League is telling you that today, but you’ve still got to give the boys all the credit in the world because some of them were running on empty.

“It was a scrappy game but sometimes that’s the way it’s got to be, you can’t always play nice football all the time. Sometimes you’ll take a 1-0 win and a scrappy performance. The last two weeks have been so intense, we haven’t trained at all. The boys are dead on their feet but they’ve got the job done.”

Chris Curran could be out for “three or four weeks” after tweaking his hamstring as both sides turn their attention to the Irish Cup on Saturday, with the Reds hosting Mid-Ulster intermediate side Hanover and Glenavon taking on Coleraine at Mourneview.

For Cliftonville, the cup will come as a welcome distraction from the rigours of the championship race.

“The league table doesn’t lie,” McLaughlin said.

“Anyone who’s sitting top and says they’re not in the mix, you wouldn’t take them seriously. We are in the mix but so are four or five other teams. We’re not getting carried away, we’ll enjoy it as long as it lasts.”

On yesterday’s evidence, Glenavon are well capable of breaking into the top six with more key players returning from injury for Gary Hamilton.

“The boys went out today and they gave us a good, honest shift,” said the Glenavon boss. “We’d a lot of possession in the final third but we didn’t make good enough use of it. We didn’t create enough chances and our final delivery wasn’t good enough. That’s the difference between the two teams. They get two chances and score one goal.”

Cliftonville: R Brush, C McDermott, A Donnelly, J Harney, G Breen, L Bagnall, R Doherty, C Curran (T Maguire 17), C McMenamin (L Ives 92), J Gormley (R Wilson 81), R Curran Subs not used: Dunne, Foster, Rocks, McCurry

Glenavon: J Tuffey, C Martin, J Singleton (K Beggs 52), D Larmour, S Sharkey, R Garrett, R Marshall, P Burns (A Harmon 52), J Daniels, C McCloskey, S Murray Subs not used: Doyle, Mitchell, Neill, Wearen

Referee: E Boyce