Heal to pay over disallowed goal

As frustrated as he was with Harry Wilson’s red card during yesterday’s defeat to Dungannon Swifts, Jim Magilton also lamented the decision to disallow the Brian Healy goal that looked to have put Cliftonville 1-0 up.

With just over half an hour on the clock at Solitude, Healy found the net via the inside of the post only to have his celebrations cut short by an offside flag – with Magilton insisting that video replays backed up his initial instinct that the effort should have stood.

“It’s a goal,” he said.

“Brian Healy is so onside and it’s a really, really poor decision. He’s looked along the line, Shea Gordon’s playing him on and there’s one or two others – it’s a really bad decision.

“I always felt that the first goal was going to be so important and we got it, but we had it taken away from us.”

Seven minutes later, Wilson was shown a straight red card by referee Shane Andrews for a foul on Gael Bigirimana that Magilton didn’t feel was worthy of the punishment.

“I think the referee has jumped in and then there’s the reaction of one or two of the Dungannon guys,” he said.

“Bigi’s seen it coming. Is Harry that impetuous? Not really, he hasn’t made contact. There’s zero contact other than Bigi’s jumped and they’ve collided. Harry’s actually taken one on his side.

“I think, yes, the referee’s got to talk to him but he actually hasn’t made contact with Bigi.”

Cliftonville’s uphill task was further extended when injury forced PJ Morrison off early in the second-half and, while Magilton was pleased to hand a debut to 16-year-old goalkeeper Matthew Belshaw, he rued the fact that his side were unable to convert the big opening they created prior to Kealan Dillon and Sean McAllister netting for the visitors.

“For the second-half, we set up in a manner we knew that if we could make them turn the ball over in a certain area of the pitch, they’d be open,” he explained.

“We had that one fantastic opportunity with Rory (Hale) and had that gone in then there was obviously something to cling on to.

“With 10 men, it’s always going to be difficult against a side like Dungannon who pride themselves on keeping the ball but we’ve given the ball way at times, we’ve constantly run inside and then they’ve broken away and it’s a good finish for them to take the lead.”