Swift exit

Cliftonville 1-2 Dungannon Swifts

Cliftonville suffered Samuel Gelston’s Whiskey Irish Cup quarter-final elimination at the hands of Dungannon Swifts at Solitude this afternoon.

Trailing to two quickfire finishes from Rhyss Campbell, the Reds were unable to find the spark to ignite a rallying response, with Joe Gormley’s injury-time strike proving a mere consolation on a hugely disappointing day.

Frustrated from early on, Cliftonville could generate any kind of sustained rhythm in a game that never got into any kind of a flow and, indeed, it was the Swifts who had the best opportunity of the first-half when Ethan McGee headed wide from point-blank distance after getting on the end of James Knowles’ free-kick delivery.

The Reds should, however, have had a penalty when Gormley seized on a ball over the top and touched it beyond out-rushing goalkeeper Declan Dunne only to be barged over by Michael Ruddy, who was no doubt relieved to see referee Jamie Robinson wave play on.

Dungannon came close to opening the scoring again early in the second period when a dangerous ball across the face of goal from Campbell was almost turned into his own net by Jonny Addis, but it wouldn’t be long until the deadlock was broken when a quickly-taken free-kick from Jordan Jenkins allowed McGee to send in a delivery which Campbell rose to head past Nathan Gartside.

The same player then made it 2-0 when he raced clear before producing a cool finish and might have had a hat-trick but for a smart stop from Gartside, who also denied Ryan Mayse soon later.

At the other end, continued huffing and puffing from Cliftonville failed to yield any reward until, in added time, Sean Moore cut the ball back for Gormley to clip past Dunne but it all proved too little, too late as the Reds’ Irish Cup interest was ended for another year.

Cliftonville: Gartside, Addis, Gallagher (R Curran, 60 mins), Rory Hale (Parkhouse, 65 mins), Lowe, R Doherty, Gormley, Turner (McDonagh, 46 mins), Ronan Hale, Coates (C Curran, 73 mins), Moore. Unused subs: G Doherty, Robinson, Casey.