Irish Cup: Holders Cliftonville ease pat Ards to reach final

Cliftonville continued to dominate possession but were guilty of spurning a number gilt-edged chances to extend their advantage in the second half.

Addis played in Curran, but his low poked effort was smothered by Moore. Kearney kept the move alive, working the ball to Gormley, who snatched at his shot.

Kearney then drilled in a dangerous low cross to substitute Arran Pettifer, but unmarked at the back post, he skewed his close-range finish wide.

Gormley did likewise soon after, swivelling and firing off target after connecting with Curran’s delivery.

The Reds were thankful for their goalkeeper Lewis Ridd, who did well to tip Darius Roohi’s looping deflected effort over the crossbar at the other end.

Parsons eventually doubled their advantage on 73 minutes, meeting a fine cross from Hale and planting a downward header beyond Moore.

As Ards pushed to get back in the game, Cliftonville continued to threaten on the counter-attack with Pettifer hitting the post after cutting in on his left foot.

Substitute Corrigan then sealed the win by netting the third five minutes from time.

The young forward had a simple finish, tapping into an empty net after Gormley took advantage of a mistake from Moore and unselfishly squared the ball to Corrigan.