AFTER a dozen departures for various reasons from the club during the summer, and various injuries to key players, Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton won’t be surprised if the Reds’ chances of success are written off – in fact he welcomes that.
“Good, that’s good,” he insisted. “We’re very determined. It’s about us trying to respond in the right way, in a positive way, and encourage the players that we have at this football club to go and do better.”
The north Belfast side started their domestic season with a 1-0 win at their Solitude home over promoted Portadown, despite having only five starters from the side which at last re-captured the Irish Cup in May after an agonising 45-year wait.
Among the absentees were the two-goal hero of that day, Ronan Hale, who has moved to Ross County, his brother and captain Rory (ankle injury), Sam Ashford (who equalised in that Cup Final, and young defensive star Odhran Casey, still recovering from a broken leg from that famous May day.
To make matters worse another of those Irish Cup heroes, Jonny Addis was ruled out with a slight injury during the week, a bad blow, accepted Magilton: “We lost Jonny, who is a massive influence on the team, both defensively and offensively, he gets moves started for us.”
However, Magilton was making no complaints about all the changes in personnel, commenting: “It happens, these things do happen. That’s part of football life and it’s the players who come in who are given the opportunity to impress.
“Do we miss them? Of course we do, but we can’t make any excuses.
“The confidence these lads are going to get from having to dig in is really important, the clean sheet. We were winning games probably slightly easier last year in terms of our start, and we built on our clean sheets. That’s very important in this league.”
It was no surprise that the former Ipswich Town boss handed starts to five summer signings, Luke Conlan, Michael Newberry, Shaun Leppard, Sean Stewart, and Ruaidhri Donnelly.
The first four of those were part of the back five, with Newberry, Conlan, and Leppard as the three centre halves and left wing-back Stewart, who spent last season on loan at Solitude, posing a repeated threat going forward.
Donnelly also provided the stunning assist for the game’s only goal, turned in by skipper Ryan Curran, whose return to first-team action this summer after more than a year out has been a real boost for the Reds.
The superb cross-field pass which found Donnelly to create the goal came from Ronan Doherty, who moments earlier had seen a shot come back off a post, and his performance on a tricky opening day really pleased Magilton:
“He’s an outstanding player. When he plays well and he lands on the ball he’s a fantastic player. He again demonstrated his passing range and his vision – it was a magnificent ball [for the goal]. He’s an important part for us.”
In the trying circumstances, Magilton was delighted to take all three points on Sunday: “It was a really tough game, Portadown newly promoted. We knew exactly what to expect and they certainly didn’t disappoint.”
The Reds face more mid-Ulster opponents this Saturday, away to Glenavon at Mourneview Park, and Magilton anticipates another testing encounter: “You have to stand up and be counted every week in this league. That’s the respect I have for the managers and players in the league, for every game they’re bang at it.”
