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As good as goal

Barry Gray was pleased to see Cliftonville hit the goal trail in last night’s League Cup Second Round clash with Lisburn Distillery.

A brace from Joe Gormley set the Reds on their way and, after Jay Donnelly continued his own bright start to the season by adding the third, debutant Caoimhin McConnell netted a beauty ahead of Conor McMenamin putting the seal on a 5-1 victory with his first strike for the Club.

Gray was happy not only to make progress to the next phase, but with the significant contribution Gormley made in difficult circumstances.

“The important thing was just to get a win under the belt and score a few of goals and we did that,” says the boss.

“There were a couple of good goals at that. We were probably a little bit peeved at conceding the goal we did, but that’s only being pernickety. Ultimately we’re delighted, it’s a tick off for us – and we’d certainly take the same result over the next few weeks.

“It was a good finish from Caoimhin and good work from Joe. We were forced to form partnerships with Joe. Caoimhin played with him for a while, Jay and Conor McMenamin as well, so it was hard for him to get a free flowing partner because of the changes we made.

“He will take a bit of confidence out of scoring a couple and hopefully that will help him in front of goal in Newry on Saturday.”