Bench pressed

Cliftonville 4-3 Coleraine [After Extra Time]

Substitutes Joe Gormley and Paul O’Neill emerged from the bench to snatch two goals each as Cliftonville completed a remarkable turnaround to lift the League Cup with a 4-3 victory over Coleraine at Windsor Park this afternoon.

Trailing 2-0 to strikes from Matthew Shevlin and Stephen Lowry, a headed finish from Gormley gave the Reds hope before O’Neill’s injury-time leveller sent the tie into extra-time amid manic scenes of celebration in the North and Kop Stands.

After the Bannsiders were reduced to 10 men when James McLaughlin was sent off for hitting out at Chris Curran, Cliftonville took the lead for the first time courtesy of a confident finish from O’Neill ahead of Gormley netting in the second period of extra-time.

Curtis Allen pulled one back for Coleraine with a minute to play but there would be no second comeback of the day as the Reds toasted glory.

There was little indication of the drama in store during a first-half in which Ryan Curran’s early header wide was the only real incident of note.

The contest exploded into life just before the hour mark, though, when Coleraine full-back Lyndon Kane seized on a loose pass in the middle of the park and surged forward before teeing Shevlin up to knock the ball beyond advancing goalkeeper Luke McNicholas.

On 63 minutes, it was 2-0. Jamie Glackin’s corner delivery bobbled about inside the box and Lowry took charge to thunder a left-footed blast in off the underside of the crossbar.

The Bannsiders appeared to be cruising towards the retention of the trophy they had held since 2020 but Cliftonville gave them something to think about when Gormley rose highest to power home Ryan Curran’s cross with 16 minutes left on the clock.

Gormley would become an increasingly central figure in the action and, after Jonny Addis had split the Coleraine defence with an inch-perfect pass, the striker saw the ball taken off his toe by Stephen O’Donnell.

Soon later, another ball over the top set Gormley scampering in behind but this time Kane was the man who got back to avert the danger.

Luke Turner then headed off target from Levi Ives’ cross before the Aberdeen loanee provided the clipped delivery from which Gormley was unable to fashion a header on target.

As injury-time approached, O’Neill’s ball in from the left was only partially cleared to Gormley, whose first-time effort was kept out of the net by defender Aaron Traynor in a sequence that would ultimately lead to the equalising goal.

Unable to clear the subsequent corner delivery, Coleraine found themselves camped deep inside their own box as the Reds re-worked the ball to wide on the right, where Jamie McDonagh whipped in a cross that Addis and Turner each nodded back across the face of goal before Gormley headed against the bar and O’Neill pounced to scramble in for 2-2.

And so to extra-time, which began with some fireworks when Traynor’s foul on McDonagh led to a minor melee which, in turn, was escalated when substitute McLaughlin repeatedly hit out at Chris Curran to earn himself a straight red card from referee Andrew Davey.

Cliftonville immediately set about making their extra man count and, after both Chris Curran and O’Neill had gone close to scoring, the duo combined to make it 3-2; Curran’s clever drop of the shoulder deceiving Rodney Brown in the race for a Cricky Gallagher pass and, when the skipper pulled the ball back from the byline, O’Neill was on hand to slam home.

The second period of extra-time was not even two minutes old by the time the Reds extended their lead. O’Neill did well to win the ball back just as O’Donnell was set to clear the danger and Ryan Curran nipped in before supplying a pass that left Gormley with the most simple of finishes.

A bullet header from Gormley looked to have completed a hat-trick only for the offside flag to cut the celebrations short and, though Allen reduced the arrears to 4-3 in the final minute, it wouldn’t be long before the party in the North and Kop Stands got into full swing upon the final blast of the referee’s whistle.

Cliftonville: McNicholas, Ives, Hale (C Curran, 53 mins), R Curran, McDonagh (Coates, 118 mins), Lowe, Addis, Doherty (O’Neill, 70 mins), Turner, Gallagher, Kearns (Gormley, 61 mins). Unused subs: McKenna, McDermott, Donnelly.