Tor down

Glentoran 3-0 Cliftonville

Cliftonville failed to fire as Glentoran earned a comfortable victory in this evening’s Sports Direct Premiership encounter at The Oval.

Though Brian Healy forced a save from Andrew Mills in the contest’s first real opening, the Glens controlled long stretches of the contest and almost took the lead in comical circumstances when Joe Toole’s backpass struck a bobble and evaded goalkeeper PJ Morrison, who raced back to clear the ball off the line in the nick of time before Danny Amos blazed his follow-up high and wide.

The breakthrough goal came on 25 minutes when Daniel Larmour’s header looped over Morrison and the offside Ross Clarke had the presence of mind not to touch the ball before it made its way over the line.

It was 2-0 early in the second period when Pat Hoban got a telling touch on a ball over the top and, having already lost Jonny Addis at half-time, Cliftonville were dealt a further blow when Luke Conlan was forced out of action on the hour mark.

Soon later, the hosts wrapped things up and, again, there was precious little fortune on the Reds’ side as Rory Hale’s header came back off the woodwork and fell perfectly for Hoban to convert.

Cliftonville: Morrison, Addis (A Kelly, 46 mins), Hale, Leppard, Conlan (McStravick, 60 mins), McCay, Glynn, Robertson (Curran, 46 mins), Tooke, Healy (Gormley, 75 mins), Sheridan (Carroll, 75 mins). Unused subs: Ridd, Pepper.