Irish Premiership: Cliftonville 3-1 Warrenpoint Town

Joe Gormley's second-half hat-trick saw Cliftonville win their sixth match in a row and go five points clear at the top of the Premiership.

The champions had gone behind to bottom-placed Warrenpoint when on-loan teenager Ciaran O'Connor stabbed in at the second attempt on seven minutes.

Gormley rolled in a low shot to bring Cliftonville level in the 62nd minute.

A quick free-kick move set up Gormley for his second and he netted again from close-range 10 minutes from the end.

In the end it looked a routine win for Tommy Breslin's men - but they had been given plenty to think about as they trooped off at half-time against a Town side which had lost their last four in the Premiership.

The Warrenpoint goal came when Darren King's early ball in from the right was not dealt with by the home defence and O'Connor, on loan from League of Ireland Dundalk, stabbed in at the second attempt.

Jude Winchester had a chance to hit back quickly but shot off target while Dermot McVeigh could have made it 2-0 but his shot was too close to goalkeeper Conor Devlin.

Cliftonville turned things around after the break with their main marksman Gormley doing the business yet again.

The top scorer in the league last season netted the equaliser with a shot which sneaked inside the far post.

Five minutes later Gormley made it 2-1 with a close-range effort after Warrenpoint had been caught napping at a free-kick with David McDaid setting up the finish with a ball across the area fro the right.

Former Derry City star McDaid teed up the third as well, unselfishly playing a square ball to hand Gormley his hat-trick goal on a plate.