All for won

Paddy McLaughlin paid credit to every member of the team for playing their part in last night’s vital 2-0 victory over Portadown.

Cliftonville emerged from Shamrock Park with three Danske Bank Premiership points to their name courtesy of Joe Gormley finishes in either half and, while he saluted the goalscorer’s decisive contribution, the Manager could find no faults elsewhere on the pitch.

“Joe’s produced the goods but so has the whole team,” he said.

“Big Colin Coates was superb at the back, we’ve kept another clean sheet – I think that’s our 20th of the season – and in the middle of the park, Daniel Kearns, Cricky Gallagher and Ryan Curran were superb, so it was a good team performance, they all contributed. Joe’s scored the goals and will get the headlines for it but it was a brilliant team performance right across the pitch.

“As you’ve seen by recent results, Portadown have been hitting form at a brilliant time in the season for them. They’re fighting for their lives and I know what it’s like down there, I was there before with Institute and I know how important it is to grind out wins, which they’ve been doing over the last four or five games.

“We knew it would be difficult and that proved to be the case throughout. They were very hard working and very well organised. Paul Doolin’s a fantastic Manager who’s won League titles as a player and as a Manager almost everywhere he’s gone, so he knows the game inside out and his team were will drilled, so to get the three points and the clean sheet, we’re delighted.”

Gormley opened the scoring with a 30th minute header from a raking Jonny Addis pass and continued his recent hot streak with a blistering finish as the contest approached its final quarter of an hour, leaving McLaughlin hoping for more of the same as the Premiership’s post-split schedule looms on the horizon.

“He’s called Joe The Goal for a reason,” he added.

“He’s a phenomenal player with a phenomenal goalscoring record and he’s hitting top form at a great time in the season.

“Last month, he was excellent and he’s started April in a rich vein of form and continued that on. 23 goals is an incredible return for somebody who’s been going under the radar and hopefully there’s plenty more goals in him, along with Ryan Curran and Paul O’Neill because they’re key to us now as we go into the real business end of the season.”