Saturday Stepback: 1979

Though the 2019/20 season was scheduled to have concluded by now, we are nevertheless continuing to fill the void left by Cliftonville-free Saturdays with the latest chapter of our weekly series transporting us back to a game played on this day in yesteryear.

Thanks to the help of the Club’s Heritage Development Officer, Paul Treanor, every Saturday during football’s downtime, cliftonvillefc.net will revisit a match from the past via the medium of contemporary newspaper reports – with today’s spotlight falling on a 1979 County Antrim Shield clash with Ards that saw the Reds take another step on the road to further filling the trophy cabinet.

Hero Bell sees Reds through to Shield Final

Tony Bell, whose last minute goal won the Irish Cup for the Reds, was their hero again at Solitude with two second-half goals that take Cliftonville into their first County Antrim Shield Final in 28 years.

It was a night of glory for the Reds but it could have been so different.

After an undistinguished opening 45 minutes in which neither side produced anything constructive, Ards broke swiftly five minutes into the second half.

After Maxwell had been impeded, referee Jack Lorimer pointed to the spot but, after consulting a linesman, he awarded an indirect free-kick.

Lady Luck had smiled on the Reds and they were to take full advantage. With 10 minutes of the half gone, Terry Kingon came on as substitute for Mike Adair and it was his drive and urgency in the middle of the field, allied to the silky skills of Ciaran McCurry, that made it all possible.

It was no coincidence that, 11 minutes after Kingon’s arrival, the Reds scored and he was at the heart of it all. He set the move in motion and, when Peter McCusker flighted the ball across, Tony Bell rose high at the far post to nod the ball home for the first of his two goals.

Cliftonville were now rampant and the anticipated second goal wasn’t long in coming. Just two minutes later, a superb through ball from John Platt was stroked past the advancing keeper by McCusker to leave the Reds two goals to the good and in apparent command of the situation.

Bell’s second goal and his team’s third lent further weight to this theory. But in the space of three minutes, Ards had stormed back into contention with two superbly taken goals. Substitute Damien Morgan clipped home a left foot volley for arguably the best goal of the match.

The Reds were no longer the composed outfit they had been and they were rocked back on their heels three minutes later when a Tom Kennedy right wing cross was headed home by Roy Walker.

Repeated efforts from both teams however produced no further scoring and the Reds were through to their third Final since November.

One unfortunate aspect of the game was the hold up at the stiles prior to the match with the result that it was near the interval before some of the fans gained admittance.

Apparently the organisers of the competition had increased the prices for Cliftonville home matches and this, in turn, led to considerable confusion.