Ronan Hale’s extra-time hat-trick helps Cliftonville march on at Coleraine’s expense
Coleraine 0 Cliftonville 3 – after extra-time
Cliftonville's Ronan Hale (right) celebrates after scoring
Cliftonville's Sam Ashford is shown a red card by referee Raymond Crangle
Cliftonville reached the sixth round of the Irish Cup as Ronan Hale hit a clinical hat-trick in a devastating 13-minute spell in extra-time to down Coleraine.
After the game finished goalless, it took until the 104th minute for the decisive goal to arrive as Hale fizzed an unstoppable effort beyond Rory Brown and into the back of the net.
Hale then completed the mission himself with two goals in as many minutes in the second half of extra-time to secure the match ball as Coleraine were left shell-shocked.
Both teams failed to create any clear-cut opportunities throughout the 90 minutes with referee Raymond Crangle brandishing red cards to Sam Ashford and Lyndon Kane in the second half.
Cliftonville received a blow before a ball was kicked as midfielder Chris Gallagher — who was initially named in the starting XI — was withdrawn and replaced by Ronan Doherty.
In a blistering start to proceedings on the Ballycastle Road, the visitors went close inside the opening 60 seconds as Ben Wilson brought the ball down inside the area, with Ronan Hale’s follow-up being diverted into the gloves of Brown.
From the resulting piece of play, ex-Larne duo Lee Lynch and Davy McDaid combined at the edge of the box with the former blasting into the gloves of David Odumosu, while the Reds thought they had taken the lead early as Wilson’s instinctive first-time cross found Sean Stewart but the full-back failed to find the target.
Brown was making his first appearance since re-signing for Coleraine and he looked nervous as he gave the ball away with several
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