Michael’s always with us: Magilton

Jim Magilton paid a touching tribute to Michael Newberry after Cliftonville booked their place in the BetMcLean Cup Final.

A Destiny Ojo header in the closing minutes of extra-time saw the Reds overcome Larne in a thrilling semi-final showdown at Inver Park and, while looking forward to the March 9 decider with Glentoran, the Manager could not let the occasion pass without a word for Newberry, who will be laid to rest in his home town tomorrow morning.

“Whilst we celebrate a great win, we’re very mindful that we’re about to travel to Newcastle for Michael Newberry’s funeral,” said Magilton.

“If you talk about guts and character, that summed up him and it summed us up.

“He’s with us every day and every day, you have moments that you share with him, he’s very much part of our lives and very much a part of the culture at this Football Club.”

On the contest itself, Magilton admitted to frustration at Cliftonville’s inability to take advantage of the 52nd minute red card issue to Larne defender Shaun Want for a crude challenge on Rory Hale – but acknowledged that the end result was all that really mattered.

The visitors bossed possession thereafter and brought a few smart saves out of goalkeeper Rohan Ferguson before eventually making the breakthrough just when a penalty shootout appeared on the cards.

“Give Larne a lot of credit because they dug in and they fought so valiantly,” added Magilton.

“We were wasteful, I have to be honest. Our quality into the box was poor at times, but we kept going and that’s the one thing you have to say about this team. We’ve lost four League games on the bounce and to come back and win a semi-final is huge, absolutely huge in the context of our season.

“Semi-finals are about winning and it doesn’t matter how you get over the line. We’ve got a fantastic Final now to look forward to. It’s another day out for our fans.

“Larne are an outstanding team and you have to earn the right to go to the wire because they’ve got so many good players – and we did.

“We threw caution to the wind, we had Coran Madden – who made a massive impact for us – we had Ryan Corrigan, we had Ojo and we went for it.

“It obviously helps when the opposition are down to 10 men because that opens up spaces for us to play in and it was just about trying to win the game.

“To win a semi-final is huge and we march on and we stick together again and we show that unity and togetherness that got us through this and I have to say our fans were just out of this world.”