Friendly disagreement

Saturday’s Clearer Water Irish Cup fifth round tie with Dundela represents Cliftonville’s 15th meeting with the east Belfast side – but 16th game against opposition called Dundela.

The statistical anomaly centres on a friendly that took place on October 16, 1880 – a full 15 years before the Duns were formed – when a Reds side featuring founding fathers John McCredy McAlery and Robert Kennedy registered a 4-0 victory.

While the veracity of that Dundela Club’s links to the modern equivalent remain ambiguous from a Reds point of view, what is certain is that we have previously locked horns with the Wilgar Park outfit on 13 competitive occasions in the past, with seven wins and three draws to our name.

The sides’ latest contest came as recently as the start of this season (main image), when goals from Joe Gormley, Rory Hale and Shay Reid earned Cliftonville a 3-1 success in what is either the first or second ever friendly between the Clubs, depending on what historical outlook you take.

With specific regards to the Irish Cup, meanwhile, this weekend’s fixture will be our fourth meeting with Dundela, whose sole victory came in a second round tie en route to their famous trophy triumph of 1955, while the Reds emerged on top in a 1991 fifth round match-up thanks to goals from Peter Murray and Sean O’Kane, while Sean Moore, Ronan Hale (3) and Gormley were on target in a 5-0 win at the same stage just three seasons ago.

Cliftonville’s all-time record against Dundela
October 16, 1880: Friendly: Cliftonville 4-0 Dundela (scorers unknown)
March 5, 1955: Irish Cup second round: Dundela 1-0 Cliftonville
March 27, 1963: County Antrim Shield first round: Cliftonville 4-4 Dundela (Spence 2, Waugh, Duff)
April 4, 1963: County Antrim Shield first round replay: Cliftonville 1-1 Dundela (Spence)
April 11, 1963: County Antrim Shield first round second replay: Dundela 2-0 Cliftonville
April 3, 1973: County Antrim Shield quarter-final: Cliftonville 2-1 Dundela (Connor, Cairns)
August 26, 1985: County Antrim Shield first round: Cliftonville 0-1 Dundela
August 22, 1987: Ulster Cup: Cliftonville 0-0 Dundela
January 19, 1991: Irish Cup fifth round: Cliftonville 2-1 Dundela (Murray, O’Kane)
March 17, 1992: League Cup quarter-final: Cliftonville 4-1 Dundela (Patterson 2, McFadden, McCann)
October 8, 2013: League Cup third round: Cliftonville 5-0 Dundela (Gormley 3, Boyce, C Curran)
September 2, 2015: League Cups second round: Cliftonville 2-1 Dundela (McDaid 2)
October 13, 2020: County Antrim Shield quarter-final: Cliftonville 7-2 Dundela (Gormley 4, C Curran 2, R Curran)
January 6, 2023: Irish Cup fifth round: Dundela 0-5 Cliftonville (Moore, Ronan Hale 3, Gormley)
June 28, 2025: Friendly: Cliftonville 3-1 Dundela (Gormley, Rory Hale, Reid)