Monday Monthly: August

With the weekend formally bringing the curtain down on the 2024/25 season, cliftonvillefc.net today kicks off a new weekly mini-series reflecting on the good, the bad and the in-betweens of last term.

Every Monday between now and the new domestic campaign getting under way, we’ll take a chronological look back on a month from the the term just finished – with an encouraging August taking centre stage today.

A week-and-a-half on from a 2-0 defeat to Auda in Riga’s Skonto Stadium which completed a 4-1 aggregate defeat to the Latvians in the UEFA Conference League’s second qualifying round, the Reds set about the task of returning to Europe when they welcomed Portadown to Solitude for the first game of the new Sports Direct Premiership campaign.

Having earlier had a penalty kick saved by visiting goalkeeper Aaron McCarey, Ryan Curran (main image) was in the right place at the right time to convert Ruaidhri Donnelly’s inch-perfect assist 11 minutes before the interval for what proved the only goal of a contest that also saw Ronan Doherty strike a post and Joe Gormley head against the crossbar.

Gormley (above) opened his season’s account six days later when Cliftonville took on Glenavon at Mourneview Park; the striker breaking the deadlock with a swept finish after 17 minutes, with Shea Gordon registering his first goal for the Club to make it 2-0 ahead of the visitors enduring a nervy finish in the aftermath of James Doona pulling one back for the Lurgan Blues.

Three days later, Jim Magilton’s side maintained their 100% start to the campaign with a home victory over Dungannon Swifts – though quite how there was only a single goal in the game was anyone’s guess.

An end-to-end encounter that saw both teams go close on multiple occasions was ultimately settled when Gormley (above) was on hand to pounce on a loose ball after good work down the right from Gordon.

David Odumosu’s acrobatic save stopped Niall Owens from claiming a late leveller before Reds new boys Destiny Ojo and Ryan Markey both came close to making it 2-0.

Cliftonville’s winning run was brought to a close when Crusaders held on for a North Belfast Derby point at Seaview the following weekend.

After Ryan Curran’s opener from the penalty spot (below) had been swiftly cancelled out by Kieran Offord’s reply, the Reds almost banked a last-gasp victory when a vicious Ojo strike was clawed out by Crues keeper Jonny Tuffey.

The month ended with the team’s first domestic defeat of the campaign when a flat display against Glentoran at The Oval yielded a deserved outcome as an eye-catching second minute strike from Jordan Jenkins proved enough for the hosts to claim all three points.

Ten points from a possible 15 represented an encouraging start for the Reds, whose next engagement saw them begin September by contesting their first knockout Cup action of the season…

August 2024
Cliftonville 1-0 Portadown
Curran

Glenavon 1-2 Cliftonville
Gormley, Gordon

Cliftonville 1-0 Dungannon Swifts
Gormley

Crusaders 1-1 Cliftonville
Curran

Glentoran 1-0 Cliftonville

Player of the Month: David Odumosu
Goal of the Month: Joe Gormley v Glenavon