Kidsshowingourfutureisbright:McLaughlin

PADDY McLaughlin says the positives to take from Cliftonville’s emerging injury crisis are the opportunities being afforded to the club’s young players.

Seven teenagers formed part of the Reds’ panel for Saturday’s home draw with Ballymena United, which saw promising striker Calvin McCurry handed his first Premiership start alongside sub appearances for fellow youngsters Donal Rocks and Peter McKiernan.

While it was the familiar figure of Joe Gormley who pounced to level after Leroy Millar had stroked the visitors in front, McLaughlin (above) was full of praise for the rookie stars whom he believes can make a big mark at Solitude.

“I always say that youth is the future of any football club and it doesn’t matter what age you are because if you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” he said.

“Some of them have been given their chance because of the injury problems we have at the minute and you can see they’re hungry to take it.

“Nobody really talks about our injuries but we’ve six out at the minute, with the likes of Levi (Ives), (Jamie) Harney and Thomas Maguire not likely to be back any time soon, then we’ve Aaron Harkin who’s worked so, so hard to get himself back fit after being injured and then he goes down with tonsillitis.

“The injuries are very frustrating because ideally you’d like to have one or two more experienced heads to call on but I’ve no problem turning to the younger lads because I know they’re good enough and they’ve never let us down.”

United boss David Jeffrey — who needs no introduction to the woes a crippling injury list can induce, with Ryan Harpur the latest of his players to hobble out of action — saluted the Sky Blues’ determination not to slump to an eighth straight Premiership loss.

“Before the game, I said to the players, ‘All we want to do is not get beat’,” he revealed. “I just wanted to come away from the ground having not been beaten and I thought in the first half we did tremendously well. If anything, we could have come in two goals to the good.

“We’ve been on a horrible run of games and, during that time, there was only one match where I could question the players’ application and attitude. Apart from that, I couldn’t fault their work, their commitment, their effort but we just could not get the rub of the green.

“The players worked so hard in training this week, as they do every week — and, for them and the hardy souls who travelled down to Belfast to support us on a bitterly cold day, I just wanted us to leave here having not been beaten.

“It’s a big and timely lift for all of us to have got a good point here at Solitude because I’m not sure too many people would have seen that result coming.”

CLIFTONVILLE: Brush, McDermott, Breen, C Curran, Foster (Rocks, 62 mins), McCrudden (McKiernan, 86 mins), Doherty, Gormley, McMenamin, Donnelly, McCurry (R Curran, 56 mins). Unused subs: Dunne, Wilson, Casey, Spencer.

BALLYMENA: Ross Glendinning, T Kane, Addis, Whiteside, Harpur (Knowles, 63 mins), McCullough, McCready, Winchester, Lecky, Millar, Reece Glendinning. Unused subs: Williamson, Friel, K Kane, Andrew Burns, Balmer, Owens.

Referee: Lee Tavinder (Dungannon)

Man of the match: Ross Glendinning

Match rating: 6/10

LARNE: C Mitchell, Flowers, Watson, Sule (Randall, 74 mins), Donnelly, Tully (A Mitchell, 74 mins), Lynch (Tilney, 83 mins), Cosgrove, Hughes, Jarvis, Herron. Unused subs: Devlin, Kelly, Ramsey, McDaid.

WARRENPOINT: Sava, Reilly, McVeigh, Lynch, Watters, Cowan (Doyle, 78 mins), Scannell, Dillon, Mullen, Deasy, Swan (O’Sullivan, 6 mins). Unused subs: Buchanan, Bennett, Smith, Wallace, Carroll.

Referee: Evan Boyce (Ballygowan)

Man of the match: Gabriel Sava

Match rating: 6/10