Gut the mustard

Jim Magilton says “guts and courage” will be required if Cliftonville are to avoid a BetMcLean Cup first round upset at the hands of Limavady United this evening.

Ahead of the Reds’ first visit to The Showgrounds in 16 years, Magilton has issued a warning against any underestimation of the Playr-Fit Championship side who, despite only being promoted from the Premier Intermediate League at the end of last season, boast a wealth of Premiership experience throughout their squad.

“We have to stand up and be counted,” he said of Cliftonville’s bid to end a run of three games without a victory.

“There will have to be a bit of a body count and assess things because we’ve picked up a few injuries in the last couple of weeks.

“We always pick a team to win, but it’ll be a team that will have to show guts and courage, too.”

Having been obligated to make three injury-enforced substitutions during Friday’s controversial defeat to Larne, Magilton says he and his squad must find a way of dealing with the challenges that such fitness battles present.

“We had to bring Rory Hale on very early on Friday, but we’re down bodies now,” he added.

“Luke Conlan has an injury and we lost Ryan Curran and Kris Lowe against Larne, then Ruaidhri Donnelly’s come off with a groin problem.

“Joe Gormley was on the bench with an injury on Friday, too – which is why we didn’t risk him after going down to 10 men when Jonny Addis was sent off – so we’re going to have a body count and we’re down quite a few, but it’s a big game for us and we have to go and present ourselves.”

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