Irish Cup: Cliftonville 4-1 Crusaders
Joe Gormley scored a hat-trick as Cliftonville beat Crusaders 4-1 in the 6th round of the Irish Cup.
Stephen Garrett also found the net, with Gavin Whyte replying with a penalty for the visitors.
The result marked the Reds first victory over their North Belfast rivals since October of 2014.
It was a typically lively start to the derby, and in the 17th minute Reds goalkeeper Brian Neeson flapped at a Craig McClean free kick, palming it straight back to the Jordan Owens who could only loft the ball over the bar.
Curran then gave the ball away cheaply, passing it straight to Crusaders midfielder Jonny Bonner 30 yards from his own goal. He slipped it through to Paul Heatley, whose 18-yard effort beat Neeson before bouncing back off the post.
Cliftonville's Jamie Harney then missed a golden chance in the 24th minute, swiping wide from 10 yards after finding himself wide open in the box following a smart free kick delivery by Tomas Cosgrove.
10 minutes before half time, Conor McDonald broke towards the Crusaders box before he was hacked down by Declan Caddell. The midfielder was given a second yellow card, and the referee awarded a penalty.
Joe Gormley's spot-kick was saved by Brian Jensen, but it had to be retaken because Caddell hadn't yet left the pitch.
However, Gormley wasn't deterred and managed to step up again and this time he found a way past Jensen to give Cliftonville the 38th minute lead.
In the 44th minute, the home side were awarded another penalty when Craig McClean hauled down Rory Donnelly, and Gormley stepped up again to slam the ball beyond Jensen to make it 2-0 at the end of the first half.
Just 11 minutes into the second half Cliftonville went 3-0 ahead as Rory Donnelly teed up Joe Gormley to tap home from close range to secure his hat-trick.
Cliftonville were far and away the better side and it was only a matter of time before they took greater advantage of their numerical supremacy and went further ahead.
Chris Curran created space down the right with 61 minutes and pulled it back for Stephen Garrett. His first effort was saved by Jensen, but he managed to get to the rebound in time to poke the ball beyond the big 'keeper to make it 4-0.
Tomas Cosgrove was judged to have handled a Heatley cross in the 68th minute, and Gavin Whyte slotted the resulting penalty to pull back one goal for Crusaders.
Garry Breen went close to extending the Cliftonville lead in the 78th minute, forcing 2 saves from Brian Jensen, first from a header from a McDonald free kick and then from a low shot in the following phase.