Cliftonville secured their safe passage to the League Cup quarter-finals with a routine victory over Donegal Celtic last night.

Hoops captain Stephen McAlorum struck early on to level the tie on aggregate, but Kieran O’Connor’s free-kick restored the Reds’ overall lead before Ryan Catney completed the job with a second-half sizzler.

The postponement of their weekend tie with Institute prompted Cliftonville officials to shorten and re-mark the Solitude pitch and it was perhaps the unfamiliarity of their bearings which saw the Reds’ defence gift DC a ninth minute goal.

Though Liam Fleming rose to head initial danger clear, the rest of the backline hesitated and McAlorum didn’t need a second invitation to nip in and cleverly touch the ball past keeper John Connolly with the outside of his boot.

Their opponents’ away goal now cancelled out, it was very much advantage DC but their lead lasted just five minutes. A foul on the edge of the area presented Kieran O’Connor with the chance to test his range and he made no mistake, coolly finding the bottom corner.

Man of the match O’Connor then rocked the crossbar with a superb first-time volley after the interval and, just six minutes later, Catney made safe Cliftonville’s passage when he rifled through a crowd of bodies from 25 yards after Mark Patterson’s corner had only been half-cleared by the visiting defence.

CLIFTONVILLE: Connolly, Fleming, R Scannell, B Bolland, O’Hara, Donaghy, C Scannell, Murphy, Catney, O’Connor, Patterson. Subs: Caldwell (Patterson, 74 mins), Boyd, McMullan (O’Connor, 80 mins), Jones (Murphy, 74 mins), Brennan.

DONEGAL CELTIC: Brown, Shannon, Lambe, Hanna, Spence, McAlorum, Gargin, Bradley, Watson, Curran, McVeigh. Subs: McClean, Lavery (McVeigh, 65 mins), Heagney, Duff (Watson, 14 mins), McAllister (Bradley, 65 mins)

Referee: Alan Black (Antrim).