Donnelly does the trick

Aquinas 0-6 Cliftonville

Rory Donnelly’s hat-trick helped Cliftonville to a 6-0 victory over Aquinas in this afternoon’s friendly at Rathmore Grammar School.

Chris Curran doubled up with strikes in either half before Joe Gormley’s cool finish wrapped things up for the Reds.

Donnelly opened the scoring early on when he seized on a slack defensive header to nudge the ball beyond the advancing Aquinas goalkeeper.

It was 2-0 when Donnelly converted Conor McMenamin’s fierce cross from close range ahead of Curran rifling into the top corner for Cliftonville’s third.

With Levi Ives having struck one post and Gormley the other, it seemed only a matter of time before the Reds extended their advantage and the fourth goal duly came when another McMenamin delivery saw Donnelly seal his treble with a well-executed header.

Curran made it 5-0 at the start of the second period when he kept his cool to finish after some neat build-up outside the area, with the scoring later completed when Gormley slotted past the keeper from 10 yards.

Cliftonville: Dunne, Ives, G Breen, C Curran, R Donnelly, Foster, Bagnall, Gormley, McMenamin, Rocks, Gorman. Subs: Garrett (for Rocks), Slane (for McMenamin), D Breen (For Dunne).