Cliftonville leave Pats with it all to do

Cliftonville 3 St. Patrick’s Athletic 0

George McMullan scored twice to leave St. Pat’s, last year’s beaten finalists, facing an uphill struggle to stay in the Setanta Sports Cup after this first round, first leg defeat at Solitude.

Despite starting well, St. Pat’s were 2-0 down at the break very much against the run of play.

Cliftonville stole the lead on 32mins when McMullan shot past keeper Gary Rogers to the corner of the Saints’ net.

Saints were 2-0 down three minutes before the break.

Rogers initially parried Mark Holland’s header from a McMullan corner, but Holland followed up to bundle home the rebound.

McMullan added his second, and Cliftonville’s third, four minutes after the restart when his 20-yard drive deflected off defender Evan McMillan to wrong foot Rogers.