Watch highlights of Portadown's 4-1 victory over Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park on Saturday, a game which saw the home side have two players sent off.

Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree has urged his players to "embrace the challenge" as they head to Coleraine in search of their first league points on Tuesday (19:45 BST).

Last season's Irish Cup winners have made a slow start to the season, losing by three goals to Linfield and Portadown, but McAree identified some shoots of light in the second half of Saturday's home defeat to the Ports.

However, they will have to do it without captain Gael Bigiramana and Leo Alves who were sent off at the weekend, while goalkeeper Declan Dunne is serving the second of a two-game suspension.

"Coleraine are a very good side with very good players," McAree told BBC Sport NI after Saturday's 4-1 home defeat.

"They have the resources to compete in the market, and they have title ambitions. It's going to be a challenge.

"We'll be going there with three players suspended after just two games, which is disappointing. But we'll go and embrace the challenge, see if we can get something, and try to bounce back."

Image source, Inpho

The Coleraine starting XI shows three changes to that which began Saturday's scoreless draw against Cliftonville at Solitude.

Levi Ives, Lewis McGregor and Matthew Shevlin drop to the bench and are replaced by Dean Jarvis, Ronan Doherty and Declan McManus.

Dungannon Swifts head coach Rodney McAree goes one better, making four changes to the team which went down 4-1 to Portadown three days ago.

Club captain Gael Bigirimana misses out after being sent off at Stangmore Park while Caolan Marron, Kealan Dillon and Andrew Mitchell are named among the replacements.

James Knowles, Thomas Maguire, Mal Smith and Bobby-Jack McAleese get the nod to start.

Coleraine: Harris, Kane (c), Jarvis, Boyle, Lyons-Foster, Patching, Cooper, Doherty, Glackin, Dunne, McManus.

Subs: Evans, Long, McGregor, Shevlin, Ives, McGonigle, Stewart.

Dungannon Swifts: Henderson, S. Scott, Knowles, Galvin, Glenny, McGinty (c), Maguire, Smith, McAleese, Wallace, McAllister.

Subs: Glass, J. Scott, Maguire, Marron, Bermingham, Dillon, Mitchell.

Image source, BBC Sport

One notable change for Coleraine this evening - and it's not on the pitch.

Manager Ruaidhri Higgins misses out because of a 'minor medical procedure.'

"Due to a minor medical procedure Ruaidhri is currently recovering at home and will miss the game," said a Coleraine FC spokesperson.

"We look forward to him returning later this week."

Former Institute manager Kevin Deery, part of the management team at the Showgrounds, steps up to take charge of affairs tonight.

Coleraine manager Ruaidhri Higgins says he is pleased that his side are limiting their opponents' goalscoring opportunities as the Bannsiders prepare to put their unbeaten start to the season on the line at home to Dungannon Swifts on Tuesday night.

A late Joel Cooper goal gave Higgins' team a 1-0 win over Larne in their Premiership opener at Ballycastle Road and his side kept another clean sheet in achieving a 0-0 draw away to Cliftonville on Saturday.

"In the two games we've been involved in we've given up very little in terms of chances, which is really, really pleasing," the Coleraine boss told BBC Sport NI.

"Between both boxes we were excellent [against Cliftonville]. It's not often you see teams coming to Solitude and dominating the ball as much as we did.

"The disappointing thing for me was our final pass, cross or set-piece delivery wasn't on the money and we know we've got special players who will make that happen. But in terms of our general performance, happy with a lot of it."

Coleraine will face a Dungannon team who have had a disappointing start to their campaign - going down 3-0 to Linfield and 4-1 to Portadown.

"We know that Dungannon are a smashing team, it's only the start of the season, and it will only be a matter of time before they find their feet.

"They'll be a really good side I've no doubt, I just hope they wait until after Tuesday night!".

Image source, Pacemaker

There are two changes to the Bangor starting XI who were defeated by Glentoran on Saturday with Robbie Garrett and Ben Cushnie replacing Jack O'Mahony and Liam Hassin.

Meanwhile Declan Caddell sticks with the same side from their only league fixture of the season so far when Carrick Rangers came from behind to defeat them by 4-3.

Musa Dibaga starts between the posts with Robbie Weir captaining the side.

Bangor: Deane, Lynch, Owens, Neale, McGuinness, Mulvenna, Harrison, Mulvenna, Morgan, Cushnie, Arthurs.

Subs: McMahon, Haughey, Cushnie, Ferguson, Mathieson, Garrett, Burns. Cushnie

Crusaders: Dibaga, K Forsythe, Hamilton, Weir, Brooks, Thorndike, Dunlop, J Forsythe, Bryden, Anderson, Lew Barr.

Subs: Tuffey, Williamson, Od McCart, Nixon, Ol McCart, Leo Barr, Boyd

Image source, BBC Sport

Watch highlights as Glentoran beat Bangor 1-0 at the Oval on Saturday to continue their winning start to the season.

Bangor manager Lee Feeney says the nature of his side's performances in their opening two matches of the Irish Premiership season have been pleasing for him.

Last year's Championship winners began life in the top flight with a 3-1 win over Cliftonville at Clandeboye but were edged out 1-0 by Glentoran at the Oval on Saturday.

Next up for Feeney's charges is the visit of Crusaders on Tuesday night.

"The big thing for me is performances. The last two games we have had good performances and that's important to me.

"If you can pick up points on the way then that's even better. We'll take the positives, learn from it and grow.

"I'm really happy with the attitude of the players and proud of the performances they put in.

"We'll look forward to Crusaders coming to Clandeboye on Tuesday night, which will be another very tough game."

Image source, Presseye

Watch highlights of Cliftonville's 0-0 draw with Coleraine in their Irish Premiership encounter at Solitude on Saturday.

Reds boss Jim Magilton rings the changes after Saturday’s goalless draw with Coleraine, making five alterations to his line-up.

Shaun Leppard, Michael Glynn, Adebayo Fapetu, Conor Falls and Joe Gormley all come into the side, with Jonny Addis, Harry Wilson, Rhyss Campbell, Ryan Curran and Luke Conlan dropping out.

Campbell and Conlan are long-term injury concerns for the hosts.

In the opposite dugout, Gary Haveron takes interim charge of Larne for the second time following Nathan Rooney’s abrupt exit.

Haveron has tweaked his starting XI from last week’s 0-0 stalemate against Portuguese side Santa Clara, with James Simpson and Matthew Lusty drafted in for the suspended duo of Aaron Donnelly and Conor McKendry.

Cliftonville: Morrison, Pepper, Lavery, Hale (c), Falls, Leppard, Gormley, Glynn, Casey, Keaney, Fapetu.

Subs: Ridd, Addis, Wilson, Curran, Gordon, Barr, McWoods.

Larne: Ferguson, Gallagher, Randall, O’Connor, S. Graham, Nolan, Cosgrove (c), Bent, Lusty, Simpson.

Subs: D. Graham, Magee, Bridgman, Kee, Moore, Hastings, Wallace.

Image source, BBC Sport

Nathan Rooney has left his position as Larne manager by mutual consent just one game into the new Irish Premiership season.

The Englishman was brought in as Tiernan Lynch's successor last November from Gibraltar side Bruno's Magpies.

However, he temporarily became Larne's head of football just three weeks after being appointed because he did not hold the licence required to lead the club in Uefa Conference League matches.

Read more here

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A reminder of Tuesday night's five fixtures in the Irish Premiership.

Image source, BBC Sport

The second set of fixtures of the new Irish Premiership season may have seen only four matches played rather than the regular six, but Saturday's action still managed to throw up its fair share of talking points.

Carrick Rangers and Glentoran established themselves as the pacesetters at this very early stage of the 2025-26 campaign as both clubs made it six points from six by securing home wins over Glenavon and Bangor respectively.

Elsewhere, Cliftonville and Coleraine played out a goalless draw at Solitude, while Portadown defeated nine-man Dungannon Swifts at Stangmore Park for their first victory of the new term.

BBC Sport NI looks at some of the main takeaways from the weekend's quadruple-header.

Read more about the talking points from Saturday's games here.

Image source, Pacemaker

Good evening and welcome to our coverage of tonight's five games in the Irish Premiership, including a live videostream of the meeting of Cliftonville and Larne on BBC iPlayer and at the top of this page.

That encounter will see both clubs attempt to secure their first wins of the new league season.

The match is given added intrigue by the announcement on Monday that Larne were parting company with manager Nathan Rooney, Gary Haveron assuming the role of interim manager while the Invermen begin their search for a successor to the Englishman.

The east Antrim club lost to Coleraine in their solitary top-flight outing to date while their opponents at Solitude this evening have lost to Bangor and drawn with Coleraine.

Elsewhere, Glentoran put their 100% record on the line when they host Glenavon at the Oval. The Lurgan Blues chase their first point of the campaign after suffering defeats to Ballymena United and Carrick Rangers.

Unbeaten Coleraine are at home to a Dungannon Swifts side who have yet to collect a point so far, Portadown entertain Ballymena United at Shamrock Park and Bangor face Crusaders at Clandeboye Park.

We'll have text updates from all five fixtures throughout the evening, plus in-play clips of the best of the action, so stay with us and you won't miss a thing!