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Cliftonville moved 14 points clear at the top of the Premiership thanks to a superb Joe Gormley strike against Ballinamallard at Ferney Park.

Mallards keeper Alvin Rouse denied Stephen Garrett before Conor Devine's fine double-save at the other end.

Devine pushed a Jason McCartney effort onto the bar before Gormley's goal on 70 minutes, the striker rifling into the top corner from 20 yards.

Rouse saved Gormley's shot minutes later as the Reds secured a vital win.

Rouse pushed over Garrett's early header but he almost punched into his own net from the resulting corner.

Only excellent goalkeeping from Devine kept the Reds level, the Solitude stopper first saving from Ryan Campbell before keeping out McCartney's strike.

Boyce sent his flicked header off target from Garrett's delivery just after the restart.

Devine came to the visitor's rescue again when he palmed McCartney's shot onto the bar, with the ball fortunately falling back into his hands.

The only goal was a bit of sublime skill from Gormley, the striker flicking the ball up before firing across Rouse and into the net for his 28th goal of the campaign.

Gormley almost doubled the lead when his low shot was parried by Rouse and Garrett was unable to force in the rebound.

Boyce squandered a good opening by heading wide at the back post from a McMullan corner.

The hosts always posed a threat and McCartney's powerful header was blocked by Ryan Catney just short of the goal-line.

The victory was made sweeter by title challengers Crusaders being held to a 1-1 draw by Dungannon.

Tommy Breslin's team, which has eight games left, is 14 points ahead of both Crusaders and Linfield.