NI Premiership Round-up - Week 29
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An outstanding Joe Gormley strike was enough to give Cliftonville a one goal victory over Ballinamallard United as the Reds survived a stiff test of their Championship credentials in Ferney Park.
The win has moved Tommy Breslin’s team fourteen points clear at the top of the Danske Irish Premiership as their main rivals for the title, Crusaders, were held to a surprise 1-1 draw at home to Dungannon Swifts.
It was far from plain sailing in Fermanagh as Cliftonville had goalkeeper Conor Devlin to thank for keeping the game goalless at half time with a superb double save, first from Ryan Campbell’s shot and then getting up quickly to thwart Jason McCartney’s follow up. Liam Boyce went close for the visitors shortly after the break before Devlin was again called into action to keep out McCartney once more.
Then followed Gormley’s sumptuous flick and volley from the edge of the area when he deftly controlled Stephen Garrett’s cross before arcing his volley with the outside of his right foot into the top corner of Alvin Rouse’s goal.
The victory was made all the sweeter as Crusaders dropped two points when they had to come from behind to claim a point against Dungannon who took the lead in the 40th minute through Neal Gawley as he bundled the ball in after his first effort had been blocked by keeper Yohann Lacroix.
The Crues pushed hard for an equaliser in the second half with Jordan Owens, David McMaster and Timmy Adamson all seeing efforts hit the post before Owens finally gained the hosts parity with a late header. Crusaders still have to play Cliftonville twice in the league but, with just nine games in their campaign left, their hopes of catching their North Belfast rivals look to be fading.
Despite picking up the valuable away point Dungannon drop a place to 10th in the table as Glenavon beat Ballymena 7-0 at Mourneview Park. Glenavon captain Brendan Shannon opened the scoring after five minutes and Gary Hamilton’s men never looked back with two former Derry City players, Ciaran Martyn and Mark Farren, adding two more before the break. Gary Liggett headed into his own net before Marc Brown scored the pick of the bunch with a spectacular overhead kick. Further goals from Kyle Neill and Guy Bates completed the rout and gave Glenavon only their second win in their last nine league outings.
Portadown’s miserable week continued as, following their five goal humbling at the hands of Drogheda United in the Setanta Cup, they again failed to register a score as they went down 2-0 to Linfield in Windsor Park.
The defeat was further compounded as Gary Twigg left the field with an injury in the first half. Linfield are now unbeaten in fifteen league encounters but their good form looks to have come too late to mount a serious Championship challenge. The win does move the Champions level on points with Crusaders in second place and, with the league due to split on March 23rd, David Jeffreys will fight to the end to retain their title.
Glentoran moved up to fifth in the table thanks to a comfortable success over Lisburn Distillery at New Grosvenor to complete a good week for Eddie Patterson, on the field at least, after a hard fought victory over St. Pat’s in the Setanta Cup on Monday night.
Coleraine recovered from their heart breaking exit to Shamrock Rovers when they gained a point with a goalless draw at home to a resurgent Donegal Celtic who are now five points clear of Distillery at the foot of the table.
