Irish Cup first round: Dundela v Cliftonville (tonight, Wilgar Park, 7.45pm)
CLIFTONVILLE, second in the Premiership, travel to third-in-the-Championship Dundela for an intriguing first instalment of this weekend’s Irish Cup action.
The city neighbours are only occasional opponents these days but this fixture has some history. In 1955, underdogs Dundela beat the Reds 1-0 at the quarter-final stage on the way to winning their one-and-only Irish Cup.
Cliftonville had been Irish Cup champions seven times by that stage but they’ve won it just once in the 67 seasons since and that win came when Tony Bell netted an iconic late winner against Portadown in 1979.
The Reds – semi-finalists in two of the last three seasons - would love to end that drought this season and they go into tonight’s tie on a high after their 2-1 win over league-leaders Larne which brought them level on 45 points although the seasiders remain top on goal difference.
Manager Paddy McLaughlin could be forgiven for resting some of his players for the trip to ‘The Hen Run’ but the Derry native insists he will name as strong a side as possible for the game.
“We had a great result on Monday night and it was a good recovery from St Stephen’s Day (3-0 loss to Crusaders) but it’s done now and we move on to Dundela,” he said.
“It’s a tough game, they’re going well in the Championship and it’s all set up for a classic cup game. Hopefully we can go down and do the business and keep the momentum going. We know how important the Irish Cup is to our supporters and how desperate they are for us to win it.
“This is an opportunity for us to progress into the next round and Dundela will see it the same way - they have home advantage and it’ll be a tough game for us but if we can keep playing like we have been and working hard we have every chance of progressing.”
Dundela reached the County Antrim Shield semi-final, losing 3-0 to Premiership pacesetters Larne, and lost form in the NIFL Championship after manager Niall Currie departed to take over at top flight strugglers Portadown.
Paul Harbinson replaced Currie as first-team boss but ‘The Duns’ lost three in-a-row (against Newington, Annagh United and H&W Welders) before their 1-1 draw with Ards last weekend stopped the rot and allowed them to cling on to third place in the table.
McLaughlin gave his players a few days’ off after their win on Monday night and will send out the strongest side he has available tonight.
“We’ll go as strong as we have,” he added.
“We have a good panel of players – it’s not the biggest in numbers but there’s good quality in it – and whatever team we send out it’ll be a strong 11.”
Striker Jamie McDonagh will come into McLaughlin’s thinking for the game. McDonagh missed Monday night’s win against Larne through suspension and will return to the squad.
