Dundalk stroll to pre-season victory

Dundalk prepared for their upcoming Setanta Sports Cup meeting with Linfield with a comfortable 4-1 victory over a Cliftonville in a friendly at the Belfast side's Solitude ground.

Cliftonville boss Eddie Patterson made 11 changes to the side which had defeated Glenavon in a league encounter on Monday and his side almost took a 16th minute lead when Dundalk striker Jason Byrne's misplaced backpass crept inches wide of Peter Cherrie’s post. However, the Dubliner would go o to prove to be a thorn in the side of the north Belfast outfit.

He made amends for his earlier mistake in the 40th minute when he turned in a cross by new addition Keith Ward open the scoring.

Aaron Smyth's mistake allowed Ross Gaynor to rifle home early in the second half before Daniel Kearns made it three. Gaynor then scored his second of the evening to make it 4-0 to the Lillywhites.

The men from Solitude pulled one back through Darren Stuart after substitute goalkeeper Paul Murphy spilled a Rory Donnelly effort. The goal was little consolation to Cliftonville, but Dundalk will feel confident ahead of those two meetings with Linfield, having so easily seen off the side sitting in fourth place in the Irish League.