Danske Irish Premiership: Cliftonville v Ballymena United (tonight, Solitude, 7.45pm)
CAVAN native Chris Curran has heaped praise on the triumphant Breffni men following their stunning Ulster Championship victory on Sunday – but all eyes are now fixed on getting Cliftonville back to winning ways against Ballymena United tonight.
In his younger days, Curran was on Cavan’s radar but he opted for a career in Irish League football and hasn’t looked back since joining the Reds from Ballinamallard United in 2014.
Hailing from Swanlinbar, Curran is best friends with Gearoid McKiernan, who was one of the stand-out players in Cavan’s remarkable ascent to Anglo-Celt glory, the county’s first triumph since Martin McHugh led them to the Holy Grail in 1997.
Glued to the television screen on Sunday evening, Curran said: “My heart was in my mouth for the whole game. I was delighted for Gearoid more than anything else because I know how much he’s put into it all these years and there have been a lot of lows – and I think he’d admit that himself.
“It was just brilliant to see him have that one special day. Hopefully there’ll be more, but the monkey is off his back now and nobody can take that away from him.”
There was a huge outpouring of emotion from many of the Cavan players in the immediate aftermath of their shock win over Donegal.
“You saw the emotion coming out of Mickey Graham and Raymond Galligan afterwards. I’m probably far away from Cavan right now but there have been serious problems with Covid in the county – the rate has been going through the roof – so I think everybody at home needed that lift. It has come at a good time.”
Curran, of course, resisted the temptation of joining the remote celebrations as he turns his attentions to halting Cliftonville’s two-game losing streak - against Larne and Dungannon – when they host the Braidmen this evening.
Finding the net has been one of Cliftonville’s biggest issues with only eight goals scored in six league outings, while tonight’s visitors ended a four-game losing run by beating Warrenpoint Town last weekend.
“I don’t think we’ve played up to the standards that we would expect from ourselves so far,” said Curran, who captains the Reds.
“In saying that, it’s early days. [But] We probably owe the manager and the supporters a bit more. We know the importance of this game and getting back on track because we’ve lost two on the bounce now and it’s been very disappointing.”
Tonight’s clash will be the last in front of a restricted numbers of supporters for a two-week period as the north prepares for another lockdown to arrest the spread of Covid19.
“You do appreciate the small number of supporters that can get in and watch our games,” said Curran.
“You do feel the difference. But, at the same time, we do have small bit of experience of playing behind closed doors this year that will help us in the period ahead.”
Jamie Harney and Liam Bagnall face fitness checks ahead of tonight’s clash.
Elsewhere, Linfield will aim to make it a clean seven out of seven league wins at Windsor Park tonight against cross-town rivals Glentoran who languish at the foot of the table but with a couple of games in hand.
