Monday Monthly: December

As Cliftonville’s preparations for the 2024/25 season continue, cliftonvillefc.net continues a weekly mini-series reflecting on the good, the bad and the in-betweens of last term.

Every Monday between now and the new domestic campaign getting under way, we’re taking a chronological look back on a month from the the year just finished – with an impressive December taking centre stage today.

After exiting the BetMcLean Cup on their previous visit to Stangmore Park just a few weeks earlier, it was with a forlorn sense of deja vu that the Reds fell behind against Dungannon Swifts, only for Joe Gormley’s leveller early in the second-half to tee up a stirring comeback that saw Ronan Hale (below) put the visitors in front ahead of Ben Wilson’s late double rounding things off.

The following week saw Cliftonville drop their only points of the month – and they’ll still be wondering how.

A dominant home display against Glentoran looked set to be rewarded with a half-time lead courtesy of Ronan Hale’s opener, but a couple of slack moments either side of the break somehow allowed the Glens to pull 2-1 in front before Shea Kearney opened his goal account with a rasping equaliser.

The Reds laid siege to the visiting goal thereafter but were unable to claim what would have been a more than deserved winner, with an injury-time finish from Rory Hale controversially ruled out for offside.

Elder brother Ronan (above) was quickly back on the goal trail when he banked a first-half brace against Loughgall at Lakeview Park seven days later and, after Chris Gallagher had made it 3-0, what hopes the Villagers had of mounting a comeback in the aftermath of reducing the arrears were snuffed out when Chris Curran put the seal on victory.

Goals in either half from Odhran Casey (above) and Ronan Hale accounted for Ballymena United at  Solitude a couple of days before Christmas, and Cliftonville saw the year out in style with a long overdue St Stephen’s Day triumph over Crusaders.

Rory Hale got the slightest of touches on Wilson’s cross to open the scoring but the Reds’ hopes of a third successive North Belfast Derby win hung in the balance when the Crues began to assert greater control in the aftermath of drawing level three minutes into the second-half – that was until Wilson (above) pounced for a first-time finish from close range to spark festive celebrations among a jubilant Red Army.

December 2023
Dungannon Swifts 1-4 Cliftonville
Gormley, Ronan Hale, Wilson [2]

Cliftonville 2-2 Glentoran
Ronan Hale, Kearney

Loughgall 1-4 Cliftonville
Ronan Hale [2], Gallagher, C Curran

Cliftonville 2-0 Ballymena United
Casey, Ronan Hale

Cliftonville 2-1 Crusaders
Rory Hale, Wilson

Player of the Month: Ronan Hale
Goal of the Month: Shea Kearney v Glentoran