SETANTA CUP FIRST ROUND, FIRST LEG: Cliftonville 3 St Patrick's A 0:ST PATRICK'S Athletic have a mountain to climb after being shocked by Cliftonville in Belfast last night .

Despite enjoying the bulk of the play and carving out a number of decent scoring opportunities for themselves, Pat’s were made to pay for their wastefulness as the hosts took full advantage.

Under the cosh for long spells, the Reds shocked their visitors when George McMullan opened the scoring and, after Mark Holland had netted number two, McMullan rounded things off for Cliftonville, who now boast a healthy lead at the halfway stage of their first-round tie with the Dubliners.

Evan McMillan and Daryl Kavanagh wasted good early chances for Saints and home keeper John Connolly produced a smart stop to keep Daniel North’s cheeky 15th-minute effort from finding the net.

McMullan certainly got his angles right, though, when he curled home a beauty of a strike from 25 yards just past the half-hour.

Holland doubled the lead when he scrambled home from a corner just before the interval and the shellshocked Pat’s fell further behind when McMullan bagged number three thanks to a 48th-minute deflection off McMillan.

Saints’ hopes of plundering a potentially vital away goal looked set to be boosted when Seán Stewart was presented with a glorious 85th-minute opportunity but, despite firing his point-blank effort low and hard towards the target, Connolly somehow got down in time and managed to keep the effort out.

CLIFTONVILLE: Connolly, Fleming, B Holland, M Holland, McMullan, C Scannell, Garrett, Seydak, Johnston, Kane, McVeigh. Subs: Duffin O’Connor (for B Holland, 46 mins), Bradley, Bannon, Donnelly (for M Holland, 71 mins), Lynch, Jones.

ST PAT’S: Rogers, Pender, Bermingham, E McMillan, Kavanagh, Bradley, North, D McMillan, Doyle, Shortall, Crowley. Subs: Bennion, Kenna, Keegan (for Doyle, 65 mins) Stewart (for D McMillan, 82 mins), O’Brien (for Crowley, 74 mins), Harney, Crawley.

Referee: David Malcolm (Bangor).