THE Cliftonville Road came to a standstill on Monday night as the open-top double decker bus carrying an immortalised group of footballers finally docked at Solitude.
Two days on from their unforgettable final win over Linfield, Cliftonville’s Irish Cup winning celebrations were showing no signs of letting up.
The Cliftonville tour bus visited every corner of Belfast and was ready to party some more on their home patch, with several thousand fans joining the team to celebrate winning the cup for the first time since 1979.
Cheers rang out and chants of ‘Red Army’ greeted Jim Magilton and his merry band of brothers as the bus crawled to a halt.
Red flares scented Cliftonville street as the newly crowned Irish Cup winners made their way to the ‘social’ for some Ska and beer.
Joe Gormley had all but lost his voice over the last two days of mayhem.
“I can’t even talk,” said the club’s record goal-scorer, who has now won every domestic honour in the game.
“I’ve been enjoying myself since Saturday, I’m delighted for everybody in the club. It was something that I never thought I would have won but this group of players is one of the best in the country. It means the world to me.
“I’m going to have one or two more drinks in the ‘social’ and that’ll be me done.”
It was an amazing outpouring of community spirit on the Cliftonville Road on Monday evening, with life-long fan and board member Michael Hegney exceptionally proud of everyone at the north Belfast club.
“This has been incredible weekend,” said Hegney.
“What’s been brilliant is the people who are new to the club can see how big this club really is.
“Saturday showed it. People turn up for football matches all the time but when they’re turning up two days later to greet the team from all parts of the city, it is amazing to experience it.”
