Monday Monthly: March

A few days on from Cliftonville’s first competitive home game of the 2025/26 season, cliftonvillefc.net continues a weekly mini-series reflecting on the good, the bad and the in-betweens of last term.

Every Monday ahead of the new domestic campaign getting under way, we’ve been taking a chronological look back on a month from the the 2024/25 schedule – with a mighty March taking today’s spotlight.

The Reds headed to Seaview for a gargantuan North Belfast Derby duel against Crusaders, with a place in the semi-finals of the Irish Cup on the line.

Watched by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, the Reds took the lead through a superb Ryan Curran header before a thumping Alex Parsons finish (above) made it 2-0.

The Crues pulled one back soon later but, despite throwing everything at it, they were unable to breach the visiting defence again, with Cliftonville holding on to book a last-four tussle with Ards.

That teed things up perfectly for a BetMcLean Cup Final showdown with Glentoran at Windsor Park, where the Reds – roared on by a huge support – were repeatedly frustrated in their efforts to land the silverware before a clinical finish from Joe Gormley (below) settled the issue in injury-time.

The exerts of that encounter were laid bare just three days later when, despite dominating proceedings in a Sports Direct Premiership clash with Dungannon Swifts, Cliftonville were unable to make the most of the myriad chances they created during a first-half of one-way traffic. After the break, the visitors’ fresher legs told and they struck two unanswered goals to claim the points that all but assured their place in the top half of the table.

The Reds’ bid to join them there took another blow when they went down to yet another defeat to Ballymena United – a 1-0 loss at The Showgrounds being their fourth consecutive reverse against the Braidmen – before a must-win duel at Coleraine finished 2-2; Curran’s double (above) not enough to help Cliftonville avoid a bottom six finish.

Despite that disappointment, the Reds were nevertheless able to look back fondly on the month of March because, just a few weeks after parading the BetMcLean Cup at Windsor, Jim Magilton’s side were back at the south Belfast venue to book yet another return trip courtesy of a comfortable Irish Cup semi-final victory over Ards that saw Gormley open the scoring ahead of second-half finishes from Parsons and Ryan Corrigan (above).

March 2025
Crusaders 1-2 Cliftonville
Curran Parsons

Cliftonville 1-0 Glentoran
Gormley

Cliftonville 0-2 Dungannon Swifts

Ballymena United 1-0 Cliftonville

Coleraine 2-2 Cliftonville
Curran 2

Cliftonville 3-0 Ards
Gormley, Parsons, Corrigan