Repeat dose

Larne 2-1 Cliftonville

Cliftonville were hit by some devastating deja vu en route to defeat against Larne this afternoon.

Trailing 1-0 at the interval, the Reds were reduced to 10 men early in the second-half but, unlike a similar situation on their previous visit to Inver Park four months ago, remained firmly in the contest until the final whistle of a typically competitive affair.

On that occasion, it was Sean Moore who was dismissed in controversial circumstances and the teenager’s involvement would also come to an early end this time around when he was forced off with a first-half injury.

Soon later, the hosts took the lead through an angled Leroy Millar drive but Cliftonville should have been afforded the opportunity to level from the penalty spot around the hour mark when Jamie McDonagh was felled in a tangle with Aaron Donnelly, only for referee Raymond Crangle to determine that the winger had taken a dive before issuing McDonagh with a second yellow card.

Andy Ryan doubled Larne’s advantage with a strike that appeared to have put the contest to bed, but the Reds rallied late on and, having twice gone close to finding the net earlier in the game, Jonny Addis made no mistake at the third time of asking with an emphatic finish to set up a grandstand final eight minutes.

Unfortunately, however, the visitors were unable to fashion any kind of consistent pressure as the clock ticked down, although Ronan Hale did feel he was clipped inside the box from an Addis cross, only for referee Crangle to once again wave penalty appeals away.

Cliftonville:Gartside, Addis, Gallagher, Parkhouse (C Curran, 83 mins), McDonagh, Lowe, R Doherty, Casey (Gormley, 63 mins), Hale, Coates (Turner, 83 mins), Moore (Traynor, 29 mins). Unused subs: G Doherty, R Curran, Robinson, Rocks.