Run of the nil

Cliftonville 0-0 Larne

A second consecutive goalless draw brought the curtain down on Cliftonville’s Danske Bank Premiership home commitments as the honours were shared with Larne this afternoon.

Jamie McDonagh came closest to breaking the deadlock when he crashed a long-range strike against the crossbar early on and, despite mounting increased pressure as the clock ticked down, the hosts were unable to fashion the golden opportunity they were looking for.

The Reds had enjoyed a bright opening few minutes but soon found themselves unable to exert any serious authority as Larne enjoyed good possession, only for McDonagh to come close to stunning everyone at Solitude when he unleashed a rocket of a shot that clattered against the woodwork.

After Joe Gormley saw an attempted charged down inside the box, some neat interplay between Kris Lowe and Ryan Curran led to an opening which the former was unable to steer on target with his left foot.

The visitors went close to making the breakthrough either side of the interval when, first, Tomas Cosgrove’s low delivery was cut out by Jonny Addis with Lee Bonis lurking before former Cliftonville striker Davy McDaid was teed up by Mark Randall only to be initially thwarted by Luke McNicholas ahead of seeing his rebound superbly cleared off the line by Luke Turner.

McNicholas repelled another McDaid drive before, at the other end, Levi Ives’ cross was just beyond Gormley’s stride and, though they would threaten through Rory Hale and Ives before the close of play, Cliftonville were unable to fashion the moment they were craving.

Cliftonville: McNicholas, Ives, R Curran, McDonagh (C Curran, 67 mins), Lowe (McDermott, 52 mins), Addis, Doherty (O’Neill, 76 mins), Gormley, Turner, Gallagher, Kearns (Hale, 67 mins). Unused subs: McKenna, Donnelly, Coates.