Danske Bank Irish Premiership: Cliftonville 2 Larne 1
A FEW takeaways from the first raucous afternoon of 2023 at Solitude: you can suffer some heavy defeats in a campaign and still be title contenders.
You keep the faith and stick to the process.
If Larne can find another finisher at the top end of the pitch, they have the quality, structure and steely character to win a league championship this season.
Given what Tiernan Lynch has built at Inver Park, the Gibson Cup shouldn't be deemed the preserve of Linfield.
And the other takeaway: you will never tire of watching young Sean Moore running at defenders.
Maybe it’s because daring dribblers are a dying breed and when one comes along to enrich our afternoons, we’re inclined to celebrate them with a bit more gusto.
Although Moore grabbed the 59th minute equaliser to help drive Cliftonville on to victory, he has played better games.
He was wasteful on a couple of occasions during yesterday’s engaging top-of-the-table clash, but his quality is irrefutable.
There has been a general de-skilling of the modern-day wide player over the last decade or more – to the point where they’re rarely identified as wingers.
Hard running down the flanks has, by and large, replaced ingenuity and cuteness. But Moore is wired differently.
He doesn’t believe in the safe recycling of the ball. In his uncomplicated world-view, trickery still pays.
Every time the ball was ushered to his blessed left foot, there was a sense of anticipation, a kind of giddy silence among the Reds faithful.
And when the ball eventually reaches him that’s when coaching leaves the stage and imagination takes over.
After falling behind in the 51st minute to a brilliantly executed half volley by Lee Bonis, Cliftonville didn’t look particularly dangerous.
Rory Hale’s perpetual movement always held out the possibility of something happening for the home side, and it was no surprise his industry played a key part in their 59th minute equaliser.
The former Republic of Ireland U21 international slipped the ball to Joe Gormley, who had the presence of mind to keep the ball moving naturally towards the magnetic Moore.
The 17-year-old peeled off the right flank, sized up the angles and although his left-footed effort was possibly going to nestle in Larne’s net anyway, Cian Bolger deflected it with his head and visiting ‘keeper Rohan Ferguson had no chance of keeping the ball out. One-each.
Fourteen minutes from time and having watched Larne squander a couple of opportunities, Rory Hale exchanged passes with his younger sibling Ronan, dummied superbly before pulling the trigger from 10 yards.
Fuad Sule, Larne’s brilliant midfield metronome and the best player on the pitch, made a last-ditch effort to stop Hale’s low shot but could only deflect it, which left Ferguson helpless again. 2-1 Cliftonville and the 'Understanders' went ballistic as a share of top spot beckoned.
There was more than a touch of Karma for the Reds - and Moore, as he was red-carded when Larne trounced them 4-0 at Inver Park back in October.
The post-match media room can throw up any number of different truths.
Cliftonville boss Paddy McLaughlin felt his side “probably done enough” to justify banking the three points.
Larne manager Tiernan Lynch was convinced the “better team lost”.
“I thought when we broke and we tried to attack, we looked strong,” said McLaughlin.
“Questions would have been asked of them when they fell behind but fair play to them. They stuck at it, they never panicked and never let the heads go down.”
Afterwards, Lynch said: “I thought the best team lost today. That’s not to take anything away from Cliftonville; what they did, they did superbly. They stayed in the game and ended up getting what they needed out of it.
“But, from our end, I thought we were very good, our work-rate was superb and we played some really good football but unfortunately we didn’t take the chances that we created.”
There was merit in both managerial narratives. Cliftonville’s fighting qualities to come from a goal down to win deserved rich recognition.
From a Larne perspective, they owned the ball for large swathes of yesterday’s top-of-the-table clash.
Sule’s ability to keep possession in every circumstance gave Tomas Cosgrove confidence to keep his width and push forward while Lee Bonis always looked a threat when the ball was slung in towards him – mostly from Cosgrove’s flank.
Cosgrove, however, missed a great chance at the back post for Larne and former Cliftonville striker Paul O’Neill later fired over after great work from Ben Doherty.
The latter appeared to be tripped in the build-up to Cliftonville's winner, a point noted by Lynch afterwards.
But, in the final analysis, Cliftonville were better in the opposition’s box, converting two opportunities out of two, and when Larne went chasing an equaliser Reds substitute Chris Curran was unlucky not to add a third to the home side's tally.
Despite suffering heavy losses to Larne, Ballymena United and Crusaders already this season, Cliftonville are still in the thick of this title hunt.
“We must be doing something right as we’re top of the league along with Larne and all this criticism we seem to be taking on a regular basis shows you how funny football is,” noted McLaughlin.
The two sides move on - with more positives than negatives banked for the challenge ahead.
Cliftonville: N Gartside, K Lowe, L Ives, J Addis, L Turner, C Gallagher, Rory Hale (O Casey 86), R Doherty, Ronan Hale (C Coates 90), J Gormley (C Curran 81), S Moore
Larne: R Ferguson, S Want, C Bolger, A Donnelly, T Cosgrove, F Sule, M Randall (T Maguire 67), B Doherty, L Millar, L Bonis, P O’Neill (D Kearns 81)
Referee: E Boyce
