Job Dun in style

Cliftonville 7-2 Dundela

Joe Gormley netted four times as Cliftonville marched into the County Antrim Shield semi-finals at Dundela’s expense.

The plundered a hat-trick inside 11 first-half minutes and further added to his tally with the Reds’ fifth after teeing Chris Curran up for a goal of his own.

The skipper would double his own personal return before namesake Ryan marked his birthday with the seventh as the Shield holders made comfortable progress.

Cliftonville had looked threatening from the off and saw Ryan Curran denied by Duns keeper Michael Argyrides before Thomas Maguire slammed an attempt against the underside of the crossbar.

The breakthrough came on the half-hour mark, though, when the impressive Conor McMenamin slipped Gormley in and he produced a cool, low finish which gave the keeper no chance.

Argyrides was rendered similarly helpless five minutes later when Gormley leant back to nonchalantly stroke Mark McKee’s delivery into the top corner and the striker’s hat-trick was complete just before the interval when he finished after capitalising on Johnny Taylor’s weak backpass.

Owain Beggs’ penalty would reduce the arrears on the stroke of half-time but the second period had barely got started when Gormley came close to his fourth of the net; Argyrides relieved to gather possession after a rare mistake had seen him play an attempted pass against the Reds’ frontman’s boot.

It wouldn’t be long until the hosts had extended their advantage, though, with Ryan Curran playing Gormley into space and his low delivery was finished off by Chris Curran, who would make it 5-1 shortly afterwards with a low finish which struck both posts on its way in.

Argyrides would deny McMenamin and twice keep Gormley at bay before Cliftonville’s all-time leading scorer banked his fourth – and the home team’s sixth – with a simple finish from a wicked McMenamin cross.

The Duns pulled one back when Daniel Burns found the net with his first touch just seconds after emerging from the bench, but Cliftonville were evidently hungry for more and further wing wizardry from McMenamin allowed Ryan Curran to toast his 27th birthday with a place on the scoresheet.

The goal which McMenamin deserved for his performance was denied him by Argyrides more than once, with the Championship side’s keeper also producing a fingertip stop from a fierce Lee O’Brien drive ahead pf Ethan Devine and Odhrán Casey both going close to finding the net in a dominant Cliftonville display.

Cliftonville: Dunne, Ives, G Breen (McGuinness, 62 mins), C Curran, R Curran, McMenamin, McKee, Bagnall (O’Brien, 62 mins), Gormley (Devine, 62 mins), Casey. Maguire. Unused subs: D Breen, Foster, McKiernan, Snoddon.