Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CURR BLIMEY
Ryan rescues late point for lacklustre Reds
RYAN CURRAN came up with a late equaliser to ensure Cliftonville avoided falling flat on their face at Solitude yesterday.
Having despatched Linfield 4-3 on Tuesday night, the Reds will have fancied their chances against a Glenavon side that had been inactive for a month.
But with the wind whipping fiercely across the Solitude pitch at kick-off, both sides found the going tough.
Wayward shots and misplaced passes were the order of the day during a dire first 30 minutes, best summed up by Cliftonville defender Gary Breen punting a free kick from the halfway line straight over the Glenavon crossbar.
Mercifully, the breeze eased a little and some green shoots of football appeared, leading to a golden chance for the home side to take the lead in the 36th minute.
Rory Hale was the architect, pinging a peach of a diagonal onto the head of Curran at the back post but the striker nodded wide.
Three minutes later Peter Campbell drove forward for Glenavon and his low shot from 20 yards was expertly tipped round the post by Aaron McCarey but all in all it was a forgettable first half.
Glenavon came out after the break with the bit between their teeth and could have taken the lead in the 50th minute – only for Matthew Fitzpatrick to drag a shot wide from 12 yards out after good work from Andrew Boyle and Conor McCloskey.
The visitors were almost caught on the break when Daire O’Connor made good ground down the left and then got his head up to pick out Hale but the midfielder blazed over from 15 yards.
A clumsy challenge in the area from Reds defender Jamie Harney on Danny Purkis then handed the visitors the goal their enterprise deserved, with Purkis picking himself up to calmly slot the penalty past McCarey in the 62nd minute.
Cliftonville thought they’d equalised after brilliant work from Thomas Maguire created an opening for fellow sub Conor McMenamin, who buried a low shot past Craig Hyland.
But the referee’s assistant raised his flag after spotting Hale standing in an offside position, directly in the keeper’s line of vision.
But credit to the Reds for sticking to their task and they got their reward in the 89th minute when McMenamin tried to make space for a shot only for Curran to step in and whip a beautiful finish into the postage stamp of the Glenavon net. CLIFTONVILLE have secured the signing of 29-year-old midfielder Daniel Kearns from Linfield, with Conor McMenamin, 25, poised to leave the club for Larne.