Almost an early opener for the visitors as Adam Glenny strikes from distance but sees his effort sail just over the crossbar.

Bright start for Dungannon Swifts.

Harry Franklin's header from a Jordan Forsythe cross is palmed away by Daniel Gyollai.

Stewart Nixon is able to get to the rebound and tries to steer the ball home, but fires wide.

That was a good chance for Crusaders.

And we're underway at Solitude!

Kris Lowe gets the ball rolling for Cliftonville as the Reds look to extend their recent unbeaten run.

Tomas Galvin gets proceedings underway at Windsor Park for the visitors.

Declan Hassan's whistle gets us underway at Ballymena Showgrounds.

Referee Shane Andrews starts this afternoon's eagerly-awaited tussle at the Ballycastle Road Showgrounds.

Off and running at Shamrock Park.

Philip Lowry gets the ball rolling at Seaview.

Can Glentoran secure three crucial points in the race for second place or will Crusaders be the victors this afternoon?

Portadown make three changes from their heavy defeat against Carrick Rangers last weekend.

Aaron McCarey returns, replacing Jordan Williamson, whilst Paul McElroy and James Teelan come in for Ahu Obhakhan and Ben Wylie.

Loughgall draft in Robert Mahon and Conor McCloskey from the side which beat Glenavon last week, but the Villagers are without Jordan Gibson and skipper Ben Murdock.

Portadown: McCarey, Chapman, McElroy, McCullough, Fyfe, Ukek, Traynor, Teelan, Minzamba, McCartan, Isamala.

Subs: Williamson, Redman, McCawl, Wylie, McKay, Downey, Monteiro.

Loughgall: Gartside, Kelly, Andrade, Waide, Norton, Francis, Mahon, Magee, Towe, McCloskey, McLaughlin

Subs: Turker, Brogan, McMenemy, O'Brien, Kelly, Guterres, Woolsey.

Image source, BBC Sport

One point today will be enough to ensure that Carrick avoid automatic relegation but the likelihood is that Stephen Baxter is already preparing his squad for a promotion/relegation play-off.

They are boosted today by the return of vastly experienced duo Luke McCullough and Paul Heatley as they look to build upon last week's impressive 4-1 win over Portadown. Danny Gibson and the suspended Kurtis Forsythe are the duo to miss out.

If you think Ballymena have little to play for, best not to mention that in front of United boss Jim Ervin, who was bristling after last week's 5-0 mauling at Cliftonville.

He makes two changes from that defeat with Aaron Jarvis and Daithi McCallion replacing Josh Carson and Shane Flynn.

Ballymena United: O'Neill, Barr, McCallion, Loughran, O'Donnell, Lafferty, Jarvis, McEleney, Corbally, Kennedy, Edogun.

Subs: Johnston, McMullan, McCurry, Devine, Hawe, Flynn, Idehen.

Carrick Rangers: Ross Glendinning, Watson, Crowe, McCullough, Buchanan-Rolleston, O'Brien, Reece Glendinning, Cherry, O'Reilly, Heatley, Maciulatis.

Subs: McIntyre, Cushley, Allen, Webb, Forbes, Hastings.

Image source, BBC Sport

Champions Linfield welcome Dungannon Swifts to Windsor Park this afternoon in their first fixture since last weekend's Gibson Cup trophy presentation.

The visitors can still mathematically finish second but will likely be more concerned about their Irish Cup final in a few weeks' time.

The Blues have won all three meetings this season, with three victories in their remaining fixtures meaning they would equal the highest points total in NIFL history with 91.

David Healy makes a total of nine changes from Saturday's 2-1 win over Glentoran a week ago. Just David Walsh and Matthew Orr retain their place.

Swifts boss Rodney McAree also makes an abundance of changes with five alterations from last weekend's 3-2 defeat to Coleraine. In come Kealan Dillon, Tomas Galvin, Grant Hutchinson, Daniel Wallace and Brandon Bermingham for Steven Scott, Dean Curry, Andrew Mitchell, Gael Bigirimana and Leo Alves, who miss out.

Linfield: Walsh, Whiteside, Allen, McDaid, Ballantyne, McKee (capt), Archer, Offord, McCullough, McKay, Orr.

Subs: Johns, East, Shields, McGee, Fitzpatrick, Annett, Morrison.

Dungannon Swifts: Dunne, Marron, Knowles, McGovern, Dillon, Glenny, McGinty (capt), Galvin, Hutchinson, Wallace, Bermingham.

Subs: Henderson, Scott, King, Boyd, Alves, Maguire, Mitchell.

Image source, BBC Sport

Cliftonville welcome Glenavon to Solitude and both managers opt for numerous changes to their starting line-ups.

Jim Magilton refreshes his Reds side that dismantled Ballymena United 5-0 last time out, with Ryan Curran, Kris Lowe, Michael Glynn, and Odhran Casey stepping into the fold.

The quartet replace Jonny Addis, Rory Hale, Shea Gordon and Joe Gormley.

Paddy McLaughlin's visitors show five alterations following their disappointing loss to bottom side Loughgall, with goalkeeper Mark Byrne coming in alongside David Toure, Len O'Sullivan, Davy McDaid, and Chris Atherton.

Cliftonville: Odumosu, Pepper, Stewart, Kearney, Curran, Lowe, Glynn, Casey, Keaney, McGuiness, Parsons.

Subs: Ridd, Addis, Hale, Gormley, Woods, Corrigan, Madden.

Glenavon: Byrne, Toure, O’Sullivan, Malone, McDaid, Atherton, McKeown, Murphy, Carlin, McGovern, Wilson.

Subs: Ryan, Marshall, Snoddy, Campbell, Lynch, O’Connor, Heaney.

Image source, BBC Sport

Cliftonville started their defence of the NIFL League Cup with a 6-0 victory over Derry City.

Caitlin McGuinness scored a hat-trick for the Reds, while two goals from former Northern Ireland captain Marissa Callaghan and a Katie Markey effort gave the holders a commanding win at Solitude.

Elsewhere in Group A, Cora Chambers netted twice as Linfield won 4-1 away to Lisburn.

Chambers scored the opening two goals before Eve Reilly and Keri Loughrey netted, and Jessica Hall pulled a goal back for Lisburn as a consolation.

In Group B, Emily Wilson scored a hat-trick as Glentoran ran out 9-2 winners in Larne.

There were five goals in the opening 12 minutes at Inver Park as Wilson, debutant Mia Moore, Rachel Rogan and Demi Vance scored for the Glens, while Ella Parker pulled one back for Larne.

Moore, Rogan and Wilson all scored their second of the game before Hollie Johnston pulled another goal back, but Sophie McKnight and Wilson rounded out a comfortable win for Kim Turner's side.

In Friday's fourth and final game, Rebecca Mann scored the only goal of the game as Crusaders Strikers defeated Lisburn Rangers at Seaview.

Image source, Pacemaker

Bannsiders boss Dean Shiels makes three alterations from the late win against Dungannon Swifts.

Max Little replaces Rory Brown in goal whilst Matthew Shevlin is recalled as he comes in for Corey Smith and Ronan Doherty is preferred to Rhyss Campbell.

Larne's side shows two changes from the team that drew with Crusaders.

Tomas Cosgrove and Jordan McEneff drop out of the squad whilst Sean Graham and Ryan Nolan come in.

Coleraine: Little, Kane, McClelland, Dunne, Scott, Jarvis, Boyle, Doherty, Glackin, McManus, Shevlin.

Subs: Brown, Stewart, Campbell, Spence, Burns, Tejada, Smith.

Larne: Ferguson, Want, Nolan, Bolger, Donnelly, Bayode, S Graham, Randall, Sloan, O'Neill, Ryan.

Subs: D Graham, Brown, Wallace, Simpson, Devlin, Panayiotou, O'Connor.

Image source, BBC Sport

There are three switches to the Crusaders line-up from last weekend with Lewis Barr, Alex King and Harry Franklin starting.

Ross Clarke and Josh Williamson drop to the bench with Jordan Stewart suspended this afternoon.

Declan Devine makes three changes to the starting XI who were defeated by Linfield with James Douglas, Christie Pattison and Jonny Russell replacing Dylan Connolly, Charlie Lindsay and captain Marcus Kane.

Crusaders: Tuffey, Barr, Callacher, Larmour, Weir, O'Rourke, King, Franklin, Forsythe, Lowry, Nixon.

Subs: Brown, Williamson, O’Connor, Clarke, Boyd, Anderson, McCart.

Glentoran: Gyollai, Hvid, Russell, Lyons-Foster, Pattison, Amos, Sule, Thomson, Douglas, Fisher, Jenkins.

Subs: Mills, Connolly, Wassim, Wightman, McClean, Thorndike, Lindsay.

Image source, BBC Sport

Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree believes striker John McGovern has "put himself in the shop window" with his performances this season.

McGovern, who joined the Swifts from relegated Newry City at the start of the season, has netted 17 goals in all competitions to help his side secure a top-half finish and a place in the Irish Cup final.

And McAree admitted that his goal tally so far this season will inevitably lead to interest from other clubs in the transfer window.

"He's been brilliant, I said before he is someone I was interested in taking at Glentoran when I was there, I couldn't prise him away at that stage, but I managed to get him to come to Dungannon and I think it has been a great move for him," McAree said.

"He has probably put himself in the shop window and there will be a lot of people interested in him, but he is a grounded kid, and he is fully focused on what he wants to achieve with us this season and there will be no talk of anything else until the season is over."

The Swifts are fifth in the table ahead of their meeting with champions Linfield at Windsor Park.

Read more of Swifts manager McAree's thoughts here.

Image source, Inpho

It's one for the traditionalists today.

We have a full programme of six Saturday afternoon 15:00 BST kick-offs in the Irish Premiership to look forward to with the battle for the second place which would secure European qualification topping the bill.

Glentoran currently occupy that runner-up spot in the league standings and they face a testing trip to Seaview to take on Crusaders this afternoon.

Larne are one point adrift of Declan Devine's men in third as they prepare to face Coleraine at the Ballycastle Road Showgrounds.

The Bannsiders themselves will have designs on climbing from fourth to second to avoid having to participate in the end-of-season play-offs.

Elsewhere in the top section of the division, champions Linfield are at home to Dungannon Swifts.

In the bottom half of the table, Cliftonville are in pole position to finish seventh before their game at home to Glenavon this afternoon.

In the day's other fixtures, Loughgall's relegation to the Championship could be confirmed after they face Portadown at Shamrock Park while Ballymena United host Carrick Rangers.

We'll have our usual offering of live audio courtesy of Radio Ulster's Sportsound, live text commentary, in-play clips, report and highlights so be sure to stay with us to keep in touch with all the action as it unfolds on this sunny Saturday afternoon.

Live text commentary and in-play clip coverage of Saturday's six Irish Premiership fixtures will appear here on Saturday afternoon.