Cliftonville started brighter and almost took the lead in fortuitous circumstances when Kurtis Forsythe attempted to head Joe Toole’s ball back to Musa Dibaga, only to send it beyond the stranded goalkeeper and watch it roll narrowly wide of the Crusaders’ goal.
Midway through the first half, Keevan Hawthorne threatened when the winger was allowed to turn and drive at the Crues defence, but his left-footed strike was deflected safely into the hands of the alert Dibaga.
Shortly afterwards, Jim Magilton’s men fashioned their best chance of the opening period when Jonny Addis’ shot was blocked into the path of Adebayo Fapetu, whose effort was cleared off the line by Forsythe before Elliot Dunlop reacted quickest to hack Shaun Leppard’s follow-up away on the goal line.
Cliftonville picked up where they left off after the restart when Liam McStravick took aim for the top right-hand corner from distance, only to see the ball whistle past the upright.
McStravick remained at the heart of the Reds’ attacking play and he crossed for Hale, who cushioned it back into Josh Kelly’s path on the edge of the area. However, the Glentoran loanee’s first-time strike flew off target.
With 12 minutes remaining, Finley Thorndike produced the home side’s best chance of the contest when the playmaker drove forward and unleashed a powerful strike from 25 yards that whistled narrowly wide of the post.
Deep into injury time, the Reds claimed all three points when Hale’s free-kick was cleared only as far as Gormley, who took a touch to steady himself before drilling a low finish into the far bottom corner for his fifth league goal of the season.
