Cliftonville lifted the County Antrim Shield at the Oval this evening with a victory that was much more comfortable than the score line suggests.

  The Reds pushed forward right from the first whistle and within five minutes the in demand Rory Donnelly had a chance to impress watching Swansea City manager Brendan Rodgers when set up by Barry Johnston, but he miskicked in front of goal.  Immediately afterwards Stephen Garrett, who was in the starting line up in place of the suspended George McMullan, had a header kept out by Elliott Morris and two minutes later had an even better effort saved by the Glens keeper once again.  On twelve minutes Donnelly produced a piece of skill more in keeping with his reputation to make room on the edge of the area and got his shot on target, but Ross Davison was on hand to clear off the line.
It was Garrett rather than Rory Donnelly who was causing the Glens defence most problems, setting up Martin Donnelly for a shot which curled just wide and having yet another effort from the edge of the area beaten out by Morris.  With half an hour gone Rory Donnelly beat Colin Nixon for pace to go clear but his weak shot was easily dealt with by the Glens keeper.  Glentoran’s first effort of any note didn’t come until the thirty four minute mark.  Stephen Carson skipped past Ciaran Donaghy on the left and sent in a fantastic cross to the near post which was met by the head of Ciaran Martyn but the ball flew just wide.
Just when it looked as though the Glens would hold out until half time and get the chance to regroup Cliftonville took a deserved lead on forty three minutes.  Garrett was involved once again, laying the ball into Martin Donnelly’s path in the Glentoran area where he was fouled by Martyn and referee Colin Burns had an easy decision in pointing to the spot.  Donnelly got up to take the spot kick himself and confidently thumped the ball past Morris.
Cliftonville continued the second half in the same attacking vein and just four minutes in Rory Donnelly again had the chance to add to his goal tally, getting the better of Nixon but this time firing his left foot shot over the bar.  The home side posed little threat going forward with the Cliftonville defence’s only moment of panic coming on fifty eight minutes when keeper John Connolly miskicked outside his area under pressure from Gary Hamilton.  Then another penetrating run from Garrett ended with a superb cross but Morris did well to deal with it under pressure from Rory Donnelly. 
On eighty seven minutes the Reds looked to have made the game safe.  The ball was given away in the Glentoran midfield allowing Barry Johnston to send Cliftonville substitute Joe Gormley away down the right.  Gormley carried the ball into the area, picked his spot and finished low to Morris’s right.  The game now seemed to be over but in the first of the three added minutes a Hamilton free kick from twenty two yards was parried by Connolly and substitute Johnny Taylor forced the ball home from close range.  With just a few seconds left there was time for even more excitement as the Glens had the chance to grab an unlikely equaliser.  Stephen Carson swung in a great cross from the right, substitute Darren Boyce had a free header eight yards out but he could only send the ball over the bar. 
This proved to be the last action of the evening with the referee’s whistle signalling that Cliftonville were to lift this season’s County Antrim Shield, much to the delight of the large and vocal travelling support.

Glentoran
Elliott Morris, Sean Ward, Colin Nixon, Jimmy Callacher, Ross Davison (sub Johnny Taylor 74 mins) Jim O’Hanlon (sub Owain Beggs 15 mins), David Howland, Ciaran Martyn, Stephen Carson, Richard Gibson (sub Darren Boyce 57 mins), Gary Hamilton

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