Reporting early

Cliftonville return to pre-season action this afternoon in what is our first ever friendly fixture against Dundela – or is it?

Club Heritage Development Officer Paul Treanor notes that, while the east Belfast outfit were established in 1895, a newspaper report from 15 years earlier records a 4-0 victory over a Dundela team by a Cliftonville side featuring founding fathers John McCredy McAlery and Robert Kennedy as the first two names on the teamsheet.

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 Duns on 13 competitive occasions in the past, with seven wins and three draws to our name.

Cliftonville’s biggest victory over the Wilgar Park side was a 7-2 triumph at Solitude in a 2020 County Antrim Shield quarter-final tie (main image), while our heaviest defeat saw us go down 2-0 in the same competition in 1963.

This latest installment of a fixture that, specifics aside, dates way back to the latter end of the 19th century comes as part of the Reds’ preparations for next month’s UEFA Conference League action, with supporters reminded that today’s game kicks off at 2pm, with cash admission set at £5 for Adults and £1 for Concessions.