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Quarter flounder

Cliftonville 0-1 Ballymena United

Cliftonville’s poor run continued with a County Antrim Shield quarter-final exit at the hands of Ballymena United this evening.

Despite enjoying long stretches of possession, especially in the second-half, the Reds were unable to muster a response to Aaron Jarvis’ eye-catching 36th minute strike, failing to hit the target time and again as the clock ticked down.

Both of Cliftonville’s efforts on target came in the first 25 minutes with both Ryan Corrigan and Micheal Glynn forcing saves out of United goalkeeper Sean O’Neill.

Opposite number David Odumosu had relatively little to do before being beaten by Jarvis’ blistering effort; the midfielder seizing on a cutback from Calvin McCurry before finding the net from range.

McCurry shot wide when presented with a golden opportunity to make it 2-0 soon later but, following a half-time change of shape, the Reds demonstrated greater urgency and almost worked an opening in the opening minute of the second period only for Corrigan to misplace his attempted pass to Rory Hale.

Both players were then off target with opportunities of their own before both Joe Gormley and Ryan Curran were unable to test O’Neill, whose 81st minute challenge on Gormley outside the box saw the Reds appealing in vain for a free-kick from referee Steven Gregg.

Ruaidhri Donnelly flicked a header wide when Conor Pepper’s cross popped up at the back post and, though Ballymena found themselves penned back as the clock ticked down, the visitors should have wrapped things up on 86 minutes when Noah Stewart seized on some hesitant defending only to lift his lob of Odumosu over the bar.

Two minutes later, Glynn blazed over the top, while two goalmouth scrambles in injury-time left Cliftonville frustrated, with O’Neill diving on to a loose ball during the first before Curran smashed over with what proved the last meaningful touch of the match.

Cliftonville: Odumosu, Pepper, Addis, Newberry (Ojo, 46 mins), Hale, Donnelly, Leppard, Donnelly, Gormley, Glynn, Corrigan (Curran, 64 mins). Unused subs: Ridd, Pettifer, Berry, Hawthorne.