![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SAGbanner.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe let so many people down today, players let themselves down and let the fans down,\u201d he reflected.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, you have to commend Dungannon \u2013 we were there last year and we know exactly what they are going through. You commend them, they had to put together a team and they did that and they deserve to win the game, you have to say that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of us, nowhere near the levels. You\u2019re going in at half time, both teams conceded poor goals from set plays. We settled down in the second half, then we expected an onslaught and we didn’t get that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t test the goalkeeper enough, we didn\u2019t ask enough questions and it is probably typical of big games. We\u2019ve let ourselves down badly in big games, and didn\u2019t have enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere weren\u2019t enough leaders in the team. There weren\u2019t enough people smelling blood. Dungannon were fighting for their very lives, which they had to do, and again showed their qualities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom our point of view so, so disappointing. It\u2019s a really poor end to what has probably been a really poor season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a lot of ‘what ifs’. Losing on penalties, semi-final loses, County Antrim Shield loses, quarter-final loses and whatever it is, but today was an opportunity for players to really step up and be counted. We didn\u2019t and we have to accept that, that was an unacceptable performance today.”<\/p>\n
Magilton named an unchanged starting eleven from the team that defeated Linfield 2-1 at Windsor Park a fortnight ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cliftonville were first to threaten when Ryan Curran latched onto a high ball forward and took the ball around Declan Dunne, though he slipped and Danny Wallace was able to divert the danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Josh Kelly shot from distance failed to trouble Dunne in the Swifts goal, as the visitors began to threaten at the other end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Corey Smith supplied a dangerous cross that Shaun Leppard forced over the bar at the expense of a corner, whilst Paul Doyle\u2019s angled shot from distance was into the palms of PJ Morrison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Swifts had two gilt-edged chances within a minute, first when Keelan Dillon threaded a pass into the path of Sean McAllister who failed to get the power in his shot to trouble Morrison, who parried the danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then Corey Smith\u2019s angled attempt crashed off the underside of the bar and Paul Doyle was unable to cause any further danger from the loose ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cliftonville captain Rory Hale was inches away with a curling attempt from Joe Toole\u2019s pass before the deadlock was broken.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the half hour mark, Keelan Dillon floated in a pinpoint free kick that Adam Glenny met with his head to power past Morrison and make it 1-0.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a lead that the Swifts would hold for four minutes however as Cliftonville hit back. Keevan Hawthorne\u2019s short corner was played back and the youngster\u2019s cross was met by Luke Conlon to head past Dunne to ensure parity at the interval.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cliftonville started the second period brightly with Josh Kelly sending a low ball across the face of goal, but Rory Hale could only find the side netting with an attempt at the backpost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Corey Smith then hung a cross up that fell to Sean McAllister at the other side and his cross was claimed by PJ Morrison ahead of Andy Mitchell at the front post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were no real clear cut chances within the opening quarter of the second period. A half chance did present itself when Rory Hale played a short corner to Hawthorne and his cross was glanced wide by Josh Kelly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rory Hale\u2019s direct corner was tipped behind by Dunne, though Cliftonville were unable to further threaten from the next set piece.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Somewhat against the run of play, Dungannon Swifts reclaimed the lead with a quarter of an hour remaining.\u00a0Kealan Dillon was afforded too much space on the edge of the box and his low curling shot beat Morrison and found the net to make it 2-1.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the aftermath Cliftonville tried to pile on the late pressure to find a second equaliser, the closest they came was deep into added time when a short corner was flashed across the area and Brian Healy fizzed a shot over the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the end Dungannon held on to book their place in Tuesday evening’s decider with Linfield as Magilton must prepare for a further rebuild of the squad, without the important European finances that have been crucial in recent seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CLIFTONVILLE: Morrison, Leppard, J Kelly, Conlon, Toole, Wilson, Hale, Hawthorne (Robertson 78\u2019), McStravick (Sheridan 70\u2019), Carroll (Healy 56\u2019), Curran (Gormley 70\u2019).\u00a0<\/p>\n
DUNGANNON SWIFTS: Dunne, Maguire, Kelly (Knowles 87\u2019), Dillon, Alves, Glenny, Doyle, Wallace, Mitchell (Gordon 63\u2019), Smith (Anderson 87\u2019), McAllister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
REFEREE: Christopher Morrison<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NIFL PREMIERSHIPEuropean Play-Off, Semi-FinalCliftonville 1Dungannon Swifts 2At Solitude CLIFTONVILLE failed in their bid to secure European qualification for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[32598,32601,32602,49,48,8515,44,32596,32599,32597,6987,561,32600,457,82],"class_list":["post-660852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-andersonstown-news","tag-andytown-news","tag-belfast-media-group","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-comment","tag-news","tag-news-belfast","tag-north-belfast-news","tag-north-of-ireland","tag-northern-ireland","tag-soccer","tag-south-belfast-news","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}