A Ryan start

Cliftonville 1-0 Portadown

Ryan Curran scored the only goal of the game as Cliftonville overcame Portadown to make a winning start to the new Sports Direct Premiership season.

Having earlier seen a penalty kick saved by visiting goalkeeper Aaron McCarey, Curran was in the right place at the right time to convert Ruaidhri Donnelly’s inch-perfect assist 11 minutes before the interval.

As well as that spot kick failure, the Reds had already seen Ronan Doherty strike a post, while the second period kicked off with Gormley being denied by McCarey before heading against the crossbar.

Unable to find the second goal to kill the game, Cliftonville endured a nervy finale and were forced to defend a number of set play deliveries before David Odumosu’s outstretched hand prevented Steven McCullough from curling in an iinjury-time leveller.

Cliftonville: Odumosu, Pepper, Stewart, Newberry, Kearney, Curran (Berry, 89 mins), Donnelly (Gormley, 54 mins), Leppard, Conlan, Gordon (Piesold, 78 mins), Doherty. Unused subs: Breen, Jordan, McGuinness, Sheridan.