Jack changes it!

Cliftonville 3-2 Ballymena United

Jack Keaney’s injury-time free-kick settled a madcap match at Solitude, where Cliftonville edged past Ballymena United in a five goal thriller.

Trailing when Success Edogun’s cross took a wicked deflection off Micheal Glynn and looped over goalkeeper Lewis Ridd, the Reds hit back in a whirlwind start to the second-half that saw Adebayo Fapetu power home an equaliser before debutant Sean Robertson’s cross was turned into his own net by defender Stephen O’Donnell.

Cliftonville were then awarded a penalty when Ben Kennedy punched a Rory Hale curler off the line – but, rather than flash a straight red card at the perpetrator, a case of mistaken identity saw referee Louise Thompson give a yellow to O’Donnell. Having already been cautioned, the ex-Coleraine men was duly shown red but understandably pleaded his innocence, leading to a lengthy delay before the spot kick could be taken – with Joe Gormley adding to the drama by blasting over the top.

Despite being down to 10 men, the visitors rallied to level through Aaron Jarvis with just a few minutes remaining but their hopes of claiming a battling point were undone when Keaney stroked home a late free-kick to spark joyous scenes at the end of a captivating encounter.

Full report to follow…