Clearer Water Irish Cup semi-final: Cliftonville 3 Ards 0
From Brendan Crossan at Windsor Park
FOR Cliftonville, Irish Cup finals are like buses. You wait around for ages for one and two come along in consecutive seasons.
Goals from man-of-the-match Joe Gormley and second-half substitutes Alex Parsons and Ryan Corrigan sealed the deal for the cup holders against rank outsiders Ards.
The gulf in class between the Irish Premiership and Championship divisions was laid bare at Windsor Park.
Ards fought for everything and created a couple of chances in either half - but the Reds never looked like loosening their grip on the coveted silverware.
In truth, the margin could have been wider with the Reds spurning a hatful of chances.
Afterwards, Reds boss Jim Magilton insisted he would savour reaching another Irish Cup decider.
“I loved it last year - I absolutely loved it,” he said.
“It’s really important that we embrace this. I reinforced that in the changing room. These are the magic moments because opportunities like this aren’t afforded to many, and they have to enjoy and embrace it and we will. We will look forward to the 3rd of May with bells on.”
Cliftonville’s approach in the opening half was as close to perfect as you could get.
Faced with Ards’ low block of five defenders strung across their own 18-yard box, the Premiership side moved the ball with pace and urgency, sometimes across the pitch, other times popping it into Ryan Curran or the ubiquitous Shea Gordon who was perpetual motion.
What was yielding some joy in the opening quarter, though, was not intricate passes around the middle of the field but vertical deliveries from the back.
This tactic was successful largely due to the clever movement of Curran and Gormley even though they’d three central defenders to contend with.
Curran was the first to latch onto a straight pass from defence – but the Reds striker took an extra second to control the ball which allowed Alex Moore in the Ards goal to advance and smother the danger.
Two minutes later, Moore’s alertness and perfectly executed sliding tackle on Gordon snuffed out another chance for the Irish Cup holders.
It was one of those halves of football where the pass count must have been around 10:1 in Cliftonville’s favour.
Cliftonville’s high press also gave the Championship outfit no time to think when they did gain possession, so a lot of balls went long and were generally squandered.
The Reds absolutely owned this game.
The underdogs, however, fashioned a decent chance in the 22nd minute when joint top scorer Aidan Steele found himself in oceans of space in the Cliftonville penalty area, but his right-footed pile-driver was headed clear by Luke Conlan.
It was a warning sign to Magilton’s men that just because Ards were on the fringes of this semi-final didn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t score a goal.
When the opening goal came on the half hour mark for the north Belfast side, it was fully deserved.
And who else to break the deadlock but Joe Gormley who lashed the ball home from the edge of the Ards penalty area.
The club’s record goal-scorer did brilliantly to check his run to stay on side after a gorgeous, clipped pass from Rory Hale.
For the remainder of the half the Reds kept moving the ball at a great tempo, with each player taking a maximum of two touches, rarely three, in possession.
It meant Ards were being pulled one way, then the other.
All that was stopping Cliftonville booking their final place in the second half was themselves.
Curran and Gormley conspired to spurn a chance apiece in a 59th minute attack, Moore denying Curran and Gormley scuffing wide at the back post.
For the favourites to turn this performance into a great one, they needed to put more on the scoreboard. More goals would eventually come.
Arran Pettifer, a second-half substitute for Harry Wilson, couldn’t convert at the back post as they kept the door ajar for the north Down men.
Curran set up Gormley for another decent chance but the Ardoyne man’s turn and low shot from eight yards breezed past the outside of the right-hand post.
Ards, to their credit, dug deep and tried to play higher up the field. Substitute Darius Roohi saw his deflected effort tipped over the Reds crossbar by ‘keeper Lewis Ridd.
But with Cliftonville’s very next attack and the Ards defence badly stretched, Hale picked out Alex Parsons – introduced for Curran – and the Aussie striker headed home at the back post on 73 minutes.
Ards were a busted flush at the precise moment as the Reds faithful erupted knowing they were Windsor bound for another Irish Cup final day out on May 3.
Always susceptible to the counterattack, Gormley’s sumptuous chip just missed the target while Pettifer smashed the Ards upright.
The Reds rounded off a great night in south Belfast when goal-scorer Gormley turned provider, passing to young pretender Ryan Corrigan who tapped home the third with five minutes of normal time remaining.
“Everything we talked about during the week and all the work and preparation we did, we did play it out perfectly - well, nothing is ever perfect - but the credit goes to the players,” Magilton said.
“Probably one criticism was being more clinical in front of goal. We did create opportunities but to be fair to Ards they came out in the second half and had a go and created one or two chances - and then we had those moments of brilliance that made the difference.”
Ards took a couple of Premiership scalps to reach the semi-final stages but on the night Cliftonville brought their ‘A’ game to the table.
Afterwards, defeated Ards boss John Bailie said: “I said to the lads, be disappointed, but when you reflect on this, Cliftonville can beat any team in the league, so there’s no shame in losing to them. We’ve lost to a good side tonight.”
Ards now go back to the hum-drum of the Championship. The Red Army, meanwhile, go marching on…
Cliftonville: L Kidd, S Kearney, L Conlan, J Addis, J Keaney, S Stewart (M Glynn 69), S Gordon, H Wilson (A Pettifer 46), R Hale (R Corrigan 84), R Curran (A Parson 69), J Gormley (C Madden 88) Subs not used: D Odumosu (GK), S McGuinness.
Ards: A Moore, A Greer, C Maxwell, R Arthur, M Ruddy, E Scannell (K Calderwood 84), O McCart (R Hunter 67), E Simpson, A Steele, BL Newell (C Scannell 84), G Tipton (D Roohi 52) Subs not used: M Matthews (GK), Z Barr, M Carson.
Referee: Tim Marshall