Brave face

A delighted Jim Magilton lauded the “bravery” Cliftonville showed to overcome Crusaders in yesterday’s Clearer Water Irish Cup quarter-final at Seaview.

Leading through an exquisite Ryan Curran header at half-time, the Reds doubled their advantage early in the second period when Alex Parsons raced through to produce an emphatic finish.

Harry Franklin reduced the arrears shortly afterwards and Cliftonville endured one or two nervy moments – most notably a Daniel Larmour effort that drew a wonderful save from Lewis Ridd – before booking progress to the semi-finals.

“It’s a massive result,” declared Magilton.

“We showed character, a different type of bravery and you are relying on your goalkeeper to make saves and defenders to make blocks.

“To a man, that character and resilience shone through. Crusaders threw the kitchen sink at us which you expect, we had to defend for our lives, but we scored two really good goals with two moments of real quality – it’s a wonderful header from Ryan Curran, his performance was outstanding, and then Alex has a wonderful left foot and it was a magnificent finish.

“We had to hold on, our goalkeeper made an unbelievable save and we managed to get over the line.”

Cliftonville’s defence of the Irish Cup moves on to a semi-final showdown with a giantkilling Ards side later this month.

The Playr-Fit Championship outfit have already dumped Premiership duo Ballymena United and Loughgall out of the competition and could count themselves unfortunate not to have taken the Reds’ scalp in the County Antrim Shield when the teams’ first round encounter went to a penalty shootout earlier in the season.

“We’re going all out to retain the trophy,” added Magilton.

“God knows what is going to happen in the semi-final but it is an opportunity to bring our fans back to Windsor and that is what we are going to try and do.

“Ards have ripped it up to make the semi-finals and not too many people would have predicted the final four, that’s Cup football.

“It’s a one-off test where every game is massive and you must be ready for every game. But we will do everything we can to get back into another Final.”