Cliftonville are within touching distance of the Irish Cup Final – a sound that sets alarm bells ringing more than anything these days.
The Reds’ progression in Ireland’s oldest footballing cup competition, of which they are a founder member and have won eight times but only once since 1909, is akin to an ambitious mountain climber scaling Everest and feeling the oxygen thinning around them.
The closer the north Belfast side gets to the showpiece, the more tantalising that prospect of achievement long since removed becomes and the greater the aura of fulfilment grips the supporters, who have seen far less joy in this tournament than you otherwise might expect.
Anyway, they’re into the semi-finals, where they will face Larne, after overcoming the last team they actually beat on the big day.
On April 28, 1979, Cliftonville recovered from a deficit created just two minutes in and several nervy moments to nudge out Portadown in a five-goal thriller at Windsor Park, in turn lifting their first Irish Cup in 70 long years and, indeed, their most significant honour of the semi-professional era up to that point.
A little under 45 years after goals from John Platt, Mike Adair and Tony Bell’s winner on 89 minutes, the quarter-final encounter at Shamrock Park on Friday night wasn’t short of anxiety either.
Eamon Fyfe rattled David Odumosu’s near-post upright as a gallant Ports outfit, who feature in the BetMcLean Cup Final at the end of this week, threw what they could at Jim Magilton’s men but, in the end, a clinical edge in the second period told and the travelling faithful were back to the capital content with the outcome.
An unfortunate Luke Wilson own goal put Cliftonville ahead just before the midway point of the first half before Sam Ashford, who also hit the upright in the contest, made this potential banana skin safe five minutes from time when he slotted past Aaron Hogg and wheeled away to celebrate.
Dispensing of their Championship adversaries, another relic of 1979 can be repeated if they take down Larne, who they overcame at the very same last-four stage to set up the big date.
The Invermen are, of course, a different beast now; pioneering in bringing full-time football to the Irish League when Kenny Bruce first invested in the east Antrim club midway through 2017, they are defending Premiership champions for the first time in their history, as well as making their bow in the Champions League and winning four County Antrim Shields in a row.
A fighting effort by Newington, who denied their last-eight opponents a clean sheet for just the second time across all competitions in 2024 when Eamonn Hughes put home a penalty at Inver Park, wasn’t enough to halt Larne’s charge, with a Lee Bonis brace accompanied by Levi Ives’ effort and an Aodhfionn Casey own goal in a 4-1 win for Tiernan Lynch’s charges.
The harbour outfit, like Cliftonville, have cursed their luck in this setting. They’ve never won the Irish Cup and lost six Finals trying, recently beaten by Linfield in the 2021 showpiece and Ballymena United at this stage in 2023 at Seaview in a competition that is also a holy grail.
The Solitude establishment, who haven’t yet beaten a top-four Premiership rival this season, must set the record straight with Larne having taken four points from six in their two clashes to date and probably assuming the favourites’ tag by a hair here.
But history can repeat itself. In 1979, a 1-0 win in a replay took the Reds through after Larne pegged them to 2-2 in the first battle – and for the year that’s in it, maybe a chapter is still unwritten.
Featured image from David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press.
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