Moore the merrier

Cliftonville 2-1 Glentoran

Sean Moore smashed in a delightful double as Cliftonville defeated Glentoran in this afternoon’s Danske Bank Premiership clash at Solitude.

After opening the scoring with a left footed drive on 11 minutes, the 17-year-old’s right foot did the damage to double the Reds’ advantage on 34.

The Glens reduced the arrears through Terry Devlin early in the second-half but Cliftonville – who saw Moore denied a hat-trick thanks to some fine last-ditch defending from Marcus Kane – retained their composure to confidently see the game out.

The Reds were rewarded for their bright start when Moore slammed home from distance but Glentoran almost levelled when Conor McMenamin’s defence-splitting pass put Niall McGinn in on goal only for Nartan Gartside to make the save.

Shay McCartan then missed the target from close range before Cliftonville doubled their advantage when Moore, having seen an attempted pass to Ronan Hale closed down, reacted smartly to prevent Luke McCullough from clearing before finding the bottom corner.

Having been relieved to see Junior’s effort from a narrow angle come back off the outside of the post, the Reds’ got off to the worst possible start in the second-half when Devlin found the roof of the net.

Outside of a forceful Aidan Wilson header, however, Glentoran failed to carve out any real goal chances and might have fallen further behind when Moore raced in on goal only to be denied by a combination of Kane and Aaron McCarey as the Reds held on for full points.

Cliftonville: Gartside, Addis, Gallagher, Rory Hale (C Curran, 80 mins), Lowe, Traynor, R Doherty, Gormley (Parkhouse, 80 mins), Ronan Hale, Coates, Moore (R Curran, 80 mins). Unused subs: G Doherty, Robinson, Rocks, Casey.