Christmas cheer as Linfield see off Cliftonville

By Aaron O’Neill

Both Linfield and Cliftonville entered Saturday’s derby match at The National Stadium hoping to kick-off the festive fixtures in a positive manner.

It was the visitors who started the brighter and could have broken the deadlock after 2 minutes. A neat through ball from Levi Ives found Jay Donnelly in space but his effort was well saved by Roy Carroll.

Linfield weathered the early storm and had a chance in the opening 10 minutes but Andrew Waterworth’s speculative volley sailed over the crossbar.

Linfield grabbed the lead midway through the first-half as Stephen Fallon’s well struck effort left Brian Neeson helpless in the Cliftonville goal. The ex-Swansea City trainee has been a key figure for David Healy’s side in recent weeks,

Cliftonville rallied round and could have grabbed an equaliser on 42 minutes. Joe Gormley controlled the ball well inside the area but his timid effort allowed the Linfield defence to turn the ball behind for a corner.

Rory Donnelly had a chance from a set piece on the stroke of half-time but he fired straight into the wall. Donnelly’s effort was to be the last action of the first-half with David Healy being the happier of the 2 managers at the interval.

Cliftonville appealed for a penalty early in the second-half as Roy Carroll and Joe Gormley clashed inside the penalty area but the Reds’ penalty shout was waved away much to the dismay of Barry Gray.

Linfield doubled their advantage on 55 minutes. Jamie Mulgrew’s well timed pass split the Cliftonville defence sending Waterworth through on goal and the striker made no mistake in finding the back of the net.

Stephen Fallon could have made it three for the home side as the ball fell to the winger inside the area but he blazed his effort over the crossbar.

Barry Gray looked to the bench for some inspiration as he introduced Daniel Hughes and Jude Winchester as the Reds aimed to reduce the deficit.

Winchester had an immediate impact as the substitute had a shot on goal but his low drive failed to find the target.

Cliftonville piled on the pressure and looked to have pulled a goal back on 70 minutes. The substitutes combined as Winchester teed up Hughes who fired his shot towards goal forcing Carroll into a smart save for the home side.

David Healy’s side held on to their 2-0 lead and closed out the game in a professional manner. Strikes from Fallon and Waterworth enough to secure all three points for the Blues moving them up to 4th in the table level on points with Cliftonville

LINFIELD FC: Carroll, Stafford, Stewart (Rooney ’73), Robinson, Haughey, Waterworth, Clarke, Fallon (Millar ’78), Mulgrew, Garrett (Lowry ’58), Quinn

UNUSED SUBS: Mitchell, Clarke

CLIFTONVILLE FC: Neeson, McGovern (Winchester ’65), Ives, Breen, Harney, Curran, Bagnall, Gormley (Hughes ’61), J. Donnelly, Cosgrove, R. Donnelly

UNUSED SUBS: Dunne, Lavery, A. Donnelly

REFEREE: Andrew Dave