Irish Cup: Cliftonville knock Coleraine out after extra-time hat-trick from Ronan Hale

Cliftonville knocked Coleraine out of the Irish Cup at the fifth-round stage courtesy of a Ronan Hale hat-trick in extra-time at the Showgrounds.

Hale curled home from outside the area to give the Reds the lead in the first period of extra-time.

The 25-year old then netted a quick-fire double in the second half of extra-time to help the Reds progress to the sixth-round of the competition.

Sam Ashford and Lyndon Kane were both sent off in normal time.

Cliftonville came into the game in fine form having registered three consecutive league wins ahead of the cup tie.

Coleraine meanwhile, had suffered four losses on the bounce, but were buoyed by some early activity in the January transfer window.

The Reds made a late change to their starting line-up as Ronan Doherty came in for Chris Gallagher, who was injured in the warm-up.

Ronan Hale forced a first save out of Coleraine debutant goalkeeper Rory Brown in the opening exchanges before Lee Lynch tested David Odumosu from distance seconds later in a lively opening.

Brown was called into action again midway through the opening half when he palmed away Shea Kearney's goal-bound shot after his attempted clearance landed at the feet of the Reds' full-back.

Coleraine had a great chance to open the scoring just before the half hour mark after Jonny Addis's clearance went only as far as Jamie Glackin.

He quickly transferred the ball forward to Lee Lynch on the edge of the penalty area, but his square ball to the supporting Jack Scott was poorly executed and Cliftonville cleared the danger.

The second half was a much more tense affair, with both sides finding it hard to create opportunities against two well-disciplined defences.

Ashford, who replaced Joe Gormley, was only on the pitch 14 minutes when he saw red in the 80th minute, dismissed by referee Raymond Crangle following a high tackle on Dean Jarvis.

Coleraine captain Kane was soon to follow him down the tunnel, as he was shown a second yellow card in the final minute of normal time for a foul on Ronan Hale.

The deadlock was finally broken in the first period of extra-time by a spectacular strike from Ronan Hale.

Seizing on a loose pass from Jack Scott, Hale strode forward before unleashing an unstoppable shot over the despairing dive of Brown in the 104th minute of the game.

The live wire striker made the game safe in the dying minutes, as he twice broke free of the home defence to fire past Rory Brown to score to seal a famous win for the Reds.

Cliftonville manager Jim Magilton: "Ronan's got real quality and has a real hunger for goals. He's a magnificent player and he has won the game for us. You can't coach that and it's a natural instinct.

"We're overjoyed. It's a notoriously difficult place to come away to and win so do it in the manner that we did in extra-time is very pleasing.

Coleraine manager Oran Kearney: "Disappointed obviously to go out of the cup. Lack of depth really hurt us and not having Jamie [McGonigle] available has topped off a crazy week for us. We're waiting for five or six to come back as well and that really told."