It was a satisfying afternoon for the Swifts as they defeated the same side they made history against earlier this year to achieve a first home league win of the season.
Coming into the match, manager Rodney McAree made three changes to the side who were disappointingly defeated 3-0 by Crusaders seven days ago. He brought in Caolan Marron, Tomás Galvin, and Bobby-Jack McAleese, replacing Cahal McGinty, Thomas Maguire, and Leo Alves.
Both teams started the match brightly, with Cliftonville earning a free kick that went just wide of the post, but the home side undoubtedly began better.
Crosses from Kealan Dillon and Adam Glenny were caught by Cliftonville goalkeeper Morrison, before some great link-up play between Steven Scott and Tomás Galvin, who then passed it to Junior, who turned his defender from six yards out and his shot went agonisingly close to making it 1-0 to the Swifts.
Soon after, there was some more exquisite play on the right hand side of the pitch which ended up in a goal-line scramble.
The ball eventually found Tomás Galvin, whose shot was saved by midfielder, Rory Hale. Instead of letting Junior tap the ball in, referee Declan Hassan awarded a penalty to the Swifts and handed the Cliftonville skipper a red card, bringing them down to ten men.
After a stuttered run up, Junior coolly slotted the spot kick into the left side of the goal, making it 1-0.
After a number of half chances at either end, things would get better for the home side on thirty-three minutes. After former Swifts loanee Micheal Glynn took out Scott, Dillon stepped up to take the free kick.
He whipped in a beautiful ball towards the back post which found the head of Caolan Marron, whose header looped over the Cliftonville goalkeeper to make it 2-0.
For the remainder of the first period, there would be chances at both ends. The home side created some more opportunities, including crosses and corners. However, the Cliftonville defence and goalkeeper stood strong.
For the visitors, despite being a man down, they also piled pressure on the Swifts defence, earning a number of corners and free kicks, but the home goal remained intact.
After making a triple substitution at the break, the Reds got exactly what they needed.
Seven minutes after the restart, the home side lost the ball after some sloppy play and it found Joe Gormley, who took it past a number of defenders and released his shot from just outside the area into the far corner to make it 2-1, and score his thirtieth career goal against the Swifts.
Afterwards, Rodney McAree reflected on the three goals.
“The first goal was a good move. Tomás Galvin ends up getting a shot off in goal and it’s saved on the line by Rory, and thankfully Junior’s got up and Junior’s a confident boy, I’ve seen him taking penalties before, and I was I was confident whenever he has the ball in his hands and I was glad to see it hit the back of the net, which gets us off to a good start.
“The second one comes from, I actually think we’re a little bit careless on the ball but we end up getting a free kick off the back of it and Kealan Dillon’s delivery was very, very good and and Caolan Marron’s header was exceptional and found the top corner, I was delighted for Caolan as well, it was nice to see him weigh in with a goal, it was nice to see one of our our defenders or one of our centre halves score as well, and it gives us that little bit of cushion.
“Disappointed with the goal that we concede. I think we need to do better with it. We need to stop the shot first and foremost and then from Decky’s point of view, he’ll probably admit that he needs to do better with the shot as well.”
After the Cliftonville goal, both teams would continue to create chances.
For the Swifts, substitute Sean McAllister whipped in a superb free kick from the left side of the pitch which found the head of fellow substitute Thomas Maguire, whose header went into the side netting, and for Cliftonville, they earned corner after corner, but they couldn’t get past the Swifts back line on each occasion.
For the last ten minutes of the game, the away side started to properly put pressure on the Swifts. First, a corner was whipped in and found the head of a Cliftonville player, only for Danny Wallace to clear it off the line. Another corner saw Conor Falls head over the bar from six yards out, and an Eric McWoods shot was saved well by Dunne in goal.
On an already frustrating afternoon for the away side, they were reduced to nine men on eighty-seven minutes. Mal Smith was running through the middle of the park and a late challenge by Jonathan Addis saw the referee take out the yellow card, Addis’s second of the afternoon on his five hundredth start in the Irish League.
It was still a nerve-wracking last minutes for the Swifts as Cliftonville created two dangerous chances. However, the Swifts defence stood strong again to gain a second win and first home win of the league season.
Rodney said: “I thought we started the game very well. I thought we did well, I thought we did well in the first half.
“Listen, Cliftonville go down to ten men, and were a credit to themselves as well, they know they worked extremely hard. They still played good football at times, whenever they were allowed to, and asked us questions.
“Coming in at half-time, we thought it was a good opportunity for us to regroup and set about our stall in the second half, but we looked like a team in the second half that had only got three points from the first seven games.
“We looked nervous, we looked as if we were very panicky, and that’s probably understandable. It’s understandable whenever the players have had the start of the season that they’ve had.
“And listen, I asked them at the start of the game that all I wanted was a hard-working, honest performance, and I think we got a hard-working, honest performance. We can do without the jitters and we can do without the panicking, and that probably comes through results as well, so maybe if results improve, then whenever the same situation happens again we can take better control of the game, I think we can all agree with that.”
Also in today’s match, loan and returning signing Sam Anderson made his debut.
Rodney said: “It was nice to see Sam, he’s a strong boy, he’s impressed since he’s come in, he’s done well, probably comes into a team today that’s a little bit nervous and can do better and will do better, but listen today it’s three points. It’s great to see Sam make us make his debut and it gives us something to build on going forward.”
Dungannon Swifts: Dunne (GK), S. Scott, Marron, Kelly, Galvin (McAllister 45’), Dillon (T. Maguire 69’), Glenny, McAleese (Anderson 69’), Wallace, Bigirimana (C) (Smith 40’), Junior.
Unused Substitutes: Henderson (GK), Alves, Mitchell.
Cliftonville: Morrison (GK), Pepper (Robertson 45’), Addis, Hale (C), Curran (Barr 45’), Gordon (McCay 45’), Gormley (McWoods 65’), Glynn, Casey, Keaney, Fapetu (Falls 81’).
Unused Substitutes: Ridd (GK), Wilson.
Up next for the Swifts is a trip to the Showgrounds to face Ballymena United next Saturday afternoon. Up the Swifts!