Ready to get up and Ronan

Ronan Doherty is looking forward to finally kicking the new season off when Cliftonville host Glenavon tomorrow.

A week on from the curtain being raised on the 2023/24 Sports Direct Premiership campaign, the Reds are poised to join the party following the postponement of their scheduled opener with Linfield – and Doherty is hopeful that the extra few days he and his team-mates have spent on the training pitch have helped fine tune preparations with Jim Magilton and his backroom staff.

“When a new Manager comes in, I think they probably want as much time as possible to get their ideas across,” explains the 27-year-old.

“You’re busy in pre-season with a lot of things, including matches, then you go back and work on things that maybe didn’t quite work or try to build on things that you can see starting to form. That extra week could actually help us because it’s an extra week the staff wouldn’t have been expecting to have with us before the League starts.”

You can read the full Doherty interview in tomorrow’s edition of our Matchday Magazine, which will be on sale at Solitude for £3.

Carrying boss Magilton’s pre-match views from the Manager’s Office, The Red Eye’s first issue of the campaign reflects on pre-season and assesses a summer of comings and goings at the Lurgan Blues – plus plenty more besides.

Cliftonville v Glenavon
All-ticket
Adults: £13
Concessions: £9
Tickets: Here
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