Cliftonville 0-0 Loughgall
Robert Mahon's clever free-kick causes panic in the Solitude penalty area as the Villagers threaten first.
The forward's low, driven effort skims across the surface and whistles past the far post, with several Loughgall players unable to make contact.
Coleraine 0-0 Crusaders
Ronan Doherty swings a free-kick into the box from midway inside the Crusaders half but Rhyss Campbell is unable to keep his header on target.
Joel Cooper - 6 mins
Linfield have doubled their lead in six minutes and it's Joel Cooper again!
Beautiful work from Matthew Fitzpatrick who controls the ball and flicks it into the path of Cooper, who latches onto the pass and fires through the legs of Aaron McCarey.
What a start for the league leader!
Glentoran 0-0 Larne
Conor McKendry's strike makes Daniel Gyollai make his first save of the day with the Glentoran stopper diving to his left to gather the effort from the edge of the box.
Cliftonville 0-0 Loughgall
Jonny Addis launches an early searching ball towards Ryan Markey as the Reds look to play forward, but James Carroll reads the danger well for the visitors, hooking it out for a throw-in near the halfway line.
Portadown 0-1 Linfield
Liam Beckett
Sportsound summariser
There's a player on top of his game, that was an innocuous, high ball, bit of indecision by the Portadown defence, but not by Cooper, who slots home, it is a superb finish.
Coleraine 0-0 Crusaders
A first shot on target as Matthew Shevlin turns his marker and forces Jonathan Tuffey into a smart save at his near post.
Joel Cooper - 3 mins
Linfield take the lead on their first attack and it's that man Joel Cooper!
Portadown had started the game with real intent and looked threatening, but it's the visitors who strike first early on.
Matthew Fitzpatrick rises to flick a header on into the path of Cooper, who is too quick for Baris Altintop as he slots home from a tight angle.
Perfect start for David Healy's side after being under pressure early on.
Coleraine 0-0 Crusaders
An early sign of intent from the home side as Dean Jarvis, making his 100th appearance for Coleraine this afternoon, almost plays in Kyle Spence.
The winger is unable to keep the ball in play but a promising start nonetheless.
Cliftonville 0-0 Loughgall
Referee Steven Gregg signals the start of this encounter at Solitude.
Jim Magilton and Dean Smith will both be desperate to halt their sides respective five-game winless runs in the league.
Glentoran 0-0 Larne
James Singleton gets the ball rolling at the Oval.
Can Glentoran make it 11 games unbeaten in all competitions or will the away side be the victors this afternoon?
Portadown 0-0 Linfield
We're underway at Shamrock Park as fourth place Portadown welcome league leaders Linfield.
How will this one go? Enjoy!
Carrick Rangers 0-0 Ballymena United
Referee Declan Hassan starts the action at Taylor's Avenue.
It's Ballymena's first league game of 2025 after last week's postponement - can they make it a winning start?
Coleraine 0-0 Crusaders
Matthew Shevlin gets us underway on a dry but cold afternoon at the Showgrounds where the home side are targeting a rare win over today's opponents.
The visitors have won the last five meetings between these teams and you have to go all the way back to November 2023 for the last Coleraine victory.
Could this be the day the Bannsiders' fortunes change?
Portadown v Linfield
Liam Beckett
Sportsound summariser
Portadown have a great balance, bags of experience, good talented players. Survival had to be the aim initially after being promoted but Niall Currie has strengthened to take them to the next level.
Glentoran v Larne
Paul Leeman
Former Glentoran captain on Sportsounds
They're fighting together, the fans are on their side, and they have two cup finals to look forward to, but this is really interesting game for Glentoran, they have lost their last nine against Larne so if they can win today that would be a real statement.
Carrick Rangers v Ballymena United (15:00 GMT)
Carrick haven’t scored a league goal at Taylor’s Avenue since mid-November but they will aim to improve on that statistic today.
They make two changes from last week's defeat at Linfield with Emmett McGuckin and Kyle Cherry in for Reece Webb and Seanan Clucas, who starts a two-game ban after accumulating 10 yellow cards.
Ballymena make two changes from their last outing - a League Cup quarter-final defeat by Glentoran - with Kian Corbally making his debut, while Ethan Devne starts. Johnny McMurray and Ben Kennedy are the two who make way.
Carrick Rangers: Glendinning, O'Malley, Crowe, McCullough, Buchanan-Rolleston, Boyle, Cherry, Heatley, Maciulaitis, Gibson, McGuckin.
Subs: McDowell, Forsythe, Watson, Cushley, Andrews, Webb, Forbes.
Ballymena United: O'Neill, Rocks, McCallion, Loughran, Nelson, Carson, Jarvis, McEleney, Corbally, Gawne, Devine.
Subs: Johnston, Moore, Scott, O'Donnell, O'Mahony, McMurray.
Image source, BBC SportCarrick Rangers v Ballymena United
Coleraine v Crusaders (15:00 GMT)
It's ninth against eighth at the Showgrounds as these two teams meet for a third time this season.
Visitors Crusaders have won all three previous encounters, twice in the league and once in the Bet McLean Cup, and by the same scoreline on each occasion - 2-1.
Hosts Coleraine haven't played in 14 days, since a 5-0 win over Armagh City in the Irish Cup, and head coach Dean Shiels rings the changes for this one.
Midfielder Dylan Boyle is suspended while Corey Smith and former Crusaders frontman Jamie McGonigle drop to the bench.
Ronan Doherty, signed from Cliftonville in the transfer window, makes a first competitive start for his new club while there are also starts for Connor Murray and Kyle Spence.
Crusaders, in contrast, endured 120 minutes just four days ago in an extra-time Bet McLean Cup semi-final defeat to Glentoran.
Perhaps surprisingly, boss Declan Caddell makes just the one change to the team which started on Tuesday night as Harry Franklin comes in for Josh Williamson, who is listed among the replacements.
Coleraine: Brown, Kane (c), Jarvis, Stewart, Campbell, Shevlin, Murray, Spence, McClelland, Glackin, Doherty.
Subs: Little, Burns, McGonigle, Tejada, McClintock, Devine, Smith.
Crusaders: Tuffey, Lowry (c), Blaney, Forsythe, O'Rourke, Offord, Lamour, Smith, Clarke, Nixon, Franklin.
Subs: Brown, Callacher, Jewitt-White, Williamson, Owens, O'Connor, Barr.
Image source, bbColeraine v Crusaders
Fri FT: Dungannon Swifts 2-3 Glenavon
Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree conceded that his side's display in their 3-2 defeat by Glenavon at Stangmore Park did not warrant any points.
The Lurgan Blues led 2-0 at the interval courtesy of goals from David McDaid and Jack Malone but a John McGovern penalty and Andy Mitchell's header restored parity.
Malone's second of the game 10 minutes from time decided the issue and denied McAree's second-placed side the opportunity to pull clear of Glentoran and Portadown below them.
"I don't think we deserved anything out of the game. Our first half performance was far from good enough," lamented the Swifts boss.
"The players knew that too - they came in disappointed at half-time. We tried to regroup, we tried to galvanise.
"I wanted to see if we could get a response and I think to be fair we got that. We showed some fight in the second half but we still lacked the quality that we know that we have.
"We looked like we had the momentum but then we conceded a poor goal. You think you've done so well to get back into it, worked so hard, and then to concede a sloppy goal like that is disappointing."
Image source, PresseyeMcAree's side lost 3-2 to Glenavon
Portadown v Linfield (15:00 GMT)
Portadown could jump to second in the Irish Premiership with a win today as they welcome table toppers Linfield to Shamrock Park this afternoon.
The Blues won the last meeting between the two sides 2-1 at Windsor Park, but the Ports salvaged a last-gasp point back in August with a 95th minute Ryan Mayse equaliser.
Niall Currie makes two changes to his starting XI from last weekend's Loughgall win, with Steven McCullough and Josh Ukek coming in for Aaron Traynor and Ahu Obhakhan.
David Healy makes just one alteration with Chris Shields coming in at the expense of Charlie Allen, who drops to the bench.
Portadown: McCarey, Altintop, MacKinnon, Chapman, Mayse, McCullough, Fyfe, Ukek, Teelan, Minzamba, Thompson (capt).
Subs: Williamson, Wilson, McElroy, Wylie, Traynor, Obhakhan, McCartan.
Linfield: Walsh, Roscoe, East, Whiteside, Shields (capt), Millar, McClean, Cooper, Ballantyne, Fitzpatrick, Orr.
Subs: Johns, Allen, McKee, Archer, McGee, Annett, McKay.
Image source, BBC SportPortadown v Linfield
Highlight - Carrick Rangers v Ballymena United
Watch the highlights as Carrick Rangers and Ballymena United play out a drab 0-0 draw in the Irish Premiership.
Read the report here.
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Linfield | 24 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 46 | 17 | 29 | 54 |
|
| 2 | Dungannon Swifts | 25 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 36 | 30 | 6 | 39 |
|
| 3 | Glentoran | 23 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 28 | 20 | 8 | 38 |
|
| 4 | Portadown | 24 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 30 | 26 | 4 | 37 |
|
| 5 | Cliftonville | 23 | 10 | 4 | 9 | 30 | 25 | 5 | 34 |
|
| 6 | Crusaders | 25 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 30 | 35 | -5 | 34 |
|
| 7 | Larne | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 13 | 9 | 32 |
|
| 8 | Ballymena United | 23 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 27 | 29 | -2 | 32 |
|
| 9 | Coleraine | 23 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 37 | 35 | 2 | 30 |
|
| 10 | Glenavon | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 24 | 32 | -8 | 28 |
|
| 11 | Carrick Rangers | 23 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 33 | -13 | 22 |
|
| 12 | Loughgall | 25 | 3 | 4 | 18 | 24 | 59 | -35 | 13 |
|
Manager: Stephen Baxter
Manager: Jim Ervin
Manager: Stephen Baxter
Manager: Jim Ervin
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