Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Reds captain out to Curr Cliftonville’s curious Irish Cup curse
CHRIS CURRAN says he’s enjoyed some amazing times in his five years at Cliftonville – but admits winning medals more than making memories is what drives him on.
The Cavan-born midfielder, handed the captaincy in the continued absence of crocked colleague Ryan Catney, has experienced some of the best moments of his career with the Solitude men, from making his debut against Celtic to winning the title in his maiden season as part of a team now regarded as the greatest in the history of the Reds.
It hasn’t all been plain-sailing, of course, but by and large it’s been a productive couple of seasons for the Cliftonville No.7, whose agonised decision to leave his beloved Ballinamallard for North Belfast when Tommy Breslin came calling in 2013 has proved to be the making of him.
Since then, he’s fulfilled the huge promise he showed at Ferney Park, flourishing into one of the most consistent midfielders in the Premiership and in that time landing everything there is win – a title, three League Cups and the County Antrim Shield – with the conspicuous exception of one prize.
It’s one of the longest-running and most puzzling sagas in the Irish League, of course, Cliftonville’s strange hoodoo in the Irish Cup, with the last of their eight triumphs in the competition coming, famously, way back in 1979 courtesy of Tony Bell’s boot.
Naturally then, it’s a trophy that Reds fans all crave, and after marching through to the final this season where they will face high-flying Coleraine, Curran is hellbent on ending the curse.
“We’ve been up and down this season,” said the 27-year-old stand-in skipper, as he reflected on Cliftonville’s wildly erratic form.
“At the start, it was difficult, the manager was getting to know us and we were getting to know the manager, and then we went on a really good run leading up to Christmas and started to creep up the table again.
“And then the Christmas period, our form suffered a bit but the cups sort of gave us a new lease of life and it could still turn out to be a really memorable and historic season for us, depending on the next few weeks.”
Indeed, with their league campaign stuttering – Saturday’s defeat to Coleraine leaves them three points off fourth place – all roads lead to Windsor this season.
There have been some daring to suggest that their name is on the cup, with the more superstitious pointing to a number of parallels with the class of ‘79, namely the impending papal visit to Ireland and the fact a female Tory PM resides in Number 10.
Understandably, Curran steers clear of such dangerous talk, but does agree that Cliftonville’s form in the cup so far augurs well.
And tantalisingly, the muchvaunted partnership of Joe Gormley and Rory Donnelly in attack is finally beginning to look the part.
Both came in for some criticism earlier in the season, but as the months have dragged on so have they grown in stature, a fact emphasised by their respective doubles in the semi-final defeat of Loughgall – Gormley’s second an irresistible chip which must rank as one of the greatest goals in the storied history of the Irish Cup.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of excitement with those players coming in at the start of the season, and I think at times they’ve come in for a bit of criticism which is hard to believe when you sit back and look at the amount of goals Joe has scored and the amount of goals Rory has been involved in. His assists are scary,” said Curran.
“So I think they have backed up the hype that there was before they came back to the club and it’s paying dividends for us now with the form those two players are in.”
Even though he’s been handed the armband this season, Curran is reluc- tant to speculate on a starting berth for the final, save to say it would be a huge honour to lead the Reds out should he be given the privilege.
“I never expected to be in this position to be honest, it is just the way it has fallen, with Ryan getting injured,” said the former Manchester United rookie.
“He is obviously our club captain and remains our club captain but I suppose it would be something special if we were able to go on and win the cup final, but I’m not even looking at that yet, a lot can happen between now and then.
“I’m just hoping that I can go into that game fit and fresh and in good form because you know, I’m not even guaranteed a starting place. You have to be diligent, you have to keep your head down and make sure you prepare in the right way and hopefully it will all go to plan.
“But yes, it would be an honour to walk the lads out and if we were lucky enough to win, it would be another enormous privilege.
“It’s going to be a really hard game. Coleraine have been excellent all season, really hard to beat and they are probably one of the most effective teams now. They play a brand of football that they stick to, they are welldrilled and quite direct at times with very dangerous attacking players who can cause you problems.
“So they probably are favourites, but in house we are confident in our own ability and we know on any given day we can cause any team problems.”
Curran joined the Reds just weeks after their last appearance in the Irish Cup showpiece, a game which the newly-crowned league champions lost against the odds to Glentoran.
And he reckons a lot of the players learned a lesson that day, namely the importance of seizing these kind of special moments because they don’t come around often.
“That game is still in the back of our minds,” said Curran. “I joined the club that summer and a lot of the lads still often speak about that game, about the disappointment of getting there and not capitalising on the final.
“I think they were still in