Carrick Rangers are certainly favourites for today's clash against Championship strugglers Newry City, but they will be wary of recent history between the clubs at Taylors Avenue.

Newry have won the last three league meetings between the club at this venue, and knocked Rangers out of the League Cup on penalties last season.

Carrick make two changes to the side which drew 0-0 with Crusaders on Monday night, with Reece Webb and Ethan Boyle coming in for Kurtis Forsythe and Emmett McGuckin.

Newry announced the singing of Jamie Doran on loan from Glenavon on Thursday night and he is straight into the starting XI, as is Brian Healy who returns from his loan spell with Ballyclare Comrades. They're joined by experienced centre back Ryan McGivern, as Alex Carroll, Georgie Poynton and Dualta Honney drop to the bench.

Newry City are forced into making a late change as Noel Healy picks up an injury in the warm-up. He's replaced by Gavin Smith.

Carrick Rangers: Glendinning, Maciulaitis, McCullough, Buchanan-Rolleston, Clucas, Crowe, Cherry, Heatley, Gibson, Webb, Boyle.

Subs: McCauley, Cushley, McGuckin, Allen, Andrews, Forbes, O'Malley.

Newry City: Mitchell, McGivern, Smith, O'Brien, Doran, Forde, B Healy, McNickle, McEnteggart, O'Flaherty, Dorans.

Subs: McStay, Salley, Carroll, Poynton, Honney, McParland.

Good afternoon from a chilly BMG Arena for a Portadown derby!

Ciaran McGurgan makes just one change from Monday's thrilling 4-3 win over Bangor. That change sees captain Paul Finnegan return in place of Aaron Rogers. New signing Colin Oppong is on the bench.

The visitors make three changes from Monday's defeat to Glentoran with the suspended Aaron McCarey back between the sticks while James Teelan and Josh Ukek start in place of Eamon Fyfe and Ryan Mayse. New signing Tabu Minzamba may make his debut off the bench.

Annagh United: Craughwell, Kerr, Calvert, Young, Finnegan (C), Donnelly, Swan, Evans, Taylor, Upton, McCullough.

Subs: McKeown, Murray, Ximenes, Evans, Rogers, Oppong, Teggart.

Portadown: McCarey, Altintop, MacKinnon, Chapman, McCullough, Wylie, Ukek, Teelan, Obhakan, McCartan, Thompson (C).

Subs: Wright, Wilson, McElroy, Mayse, Fyfe, Traynor, Minzamba.

Championship leaders Bangor make four changes from the side that lost 4-3 to Annagh United mid-week. Goalkeeper Evan Ovendale is rafted in, as are Callum Byers and Kielan Reid. There is also a first start for Michael Morgan who was signed from Ballyclare Comrades just this week.

Newington are rooted to the bottom of the Championship but will have an air of confidence heading into 2025 after drawing two in a row and then defeating Institute 2-0 earlier this week. They make three changes today with Callum Parker, Robbie Morrow and Jack Reilly all brought in by boss Paul Hamilton.

Bangor: Ovendale; Neale, Owens, Harrison (c), Mulvenna, Cushnie, Ferguson, Reid, Bradley, Morgan, Byers.

Subs: Arthurs; McArthur, Mathieson, Davidson, Halliday, Redford, Fry.

Newington: Smyth; Gowdy, Stuart, Downey, Parker, McGrandles, Morrow, Duffy, McBride, Reilly, O'Boyle.

Subs: Casey; McMullan, Rooney, Brennan, Ward, Kalla.

Smooth sailing through the opening half for Crusaders here at Seaview thanks to two early quick-fire goals from Philip Lowry and Jordan Forsythe.

David Healy names a strong starting XI this afternoon as Linfield go in search of a 45th Irish Cup following last year's defeat in the final to Cliftonville.

Charlie Allen, Ethan McGee, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Ryan McKay come in from the start, with six players keeping their place from last week's 0-0 stalemate at the Oval against Big Two rivals Glentoran.

Robbie McDaid also returns to the starting XI for the first time since 28th January 2023 following a lengthy injury absence.

Linfield: Walsh, East, Whiteside, Millar, Allen, McDaid, Fallon, Mulgrew (capt), McGee, Fitzpatrick, McKay.

Subs: McClean, Ballantyne, Archer, McCullough, Annett, Thompson, Anderson.

Wellington Rec: Ferguson, S.Ervine, Wharry, G.Ervine, O'Boyle, Henry, Harrison, Mundell, Gault, Montgomery, Workman (capt).

Subs: Courtney, Balmer, Crawford, Crooks, Crossan, McNally, Bagshaw.

Limavady United manager Paul Owens makes two changes to the team which defeated Ballinamallard United 2-1 over Christmas.

John Butcher and Graham Crown make way to be replaced by Ryan Morrow and Joe McCready.

Larne head coach Gary Haveron makes five changes to the side which drew 0-0 with Carrick Rangers on Boxing Day.

Shaun Want, Mark Randall and Andy Ryan start the afternoon on the bench while Sam Todd and Matty Lusty don’t make the match-day squad.

Into the starting line-up come Conor McKendry, Benji Magee, Jordan McEneff, Ryan Nolan and James Simpson.

Limavady United: Gallagher, Morrow, T. Boorman, Lowry (c), Parkhill, Tosh, R. Boorman, Whiteside, Mullan, McCready, Walker.

Subs: Purcell, Crown, McCloskey, McCrudden, McKinney, Martin, Leighton.

Larne: Ferguson, Donnelly, McKendry, Graham, Magee, McEneff, Bolger (c), Nolan, Cosgrove, Gallagher, Simpson.

Subs: Besant, Want, Randall, Sloan, Ryan, Wallace, Donnelly.

There are three changes to the Dungannon Swifts side who defeated Loughgall. New addition Brandon Bermingham, who signed from Rhode Island Rams, makes his debut and comes into the starting XI alongside James Knowles and Kealan Dillon.

Leo Alves and John McGovern drop to the bench with Dean Curry not in today's squad.

Trevor Williamson also makes three switches to his last starting line-up. There is a change between the posts with new signing Steven Maguire replacing Ronan Burns. Brain Johnston and Eoin Rooney also start and replace Jordan Hayes and Matthew Holloway.

Dungannon Swifts: Dunne, Scott, Knowles, Dillon, Glenny, McGinty, Galvin, Wallace, Mitchell, Bermingham, Bigirimana.

Subs: Solis Grogan, King, McGovern, Boyd, Alves, Hutchinnson, McAleese.

Rathfriland Rangers: Maguire, Devlin, Barbour, Tate, Johnston, Fitzpatrick, Kilmartin, Chambers, Rooney, Cooper, Corbett.

Subs: Gracey, Hayes, Tumilty, Annett, Murray, Scannell.

Glentoran manager Declan Devine praised the character and desire of his side as they bounced back from a 2-1 deficit to see off Championship side H&W Welders 4-2 in the fifth round of the Irish Cup at Blanchflower Stadium.

James Singleton opened the scoring for the Premiership outfit but a double from Ewan McCoubrey saw the hosts rock their illustrious opponents by taking a shock lead in the east Belfast derby.

A David Fisher strike, a Lewis Patterson own goal and Frankie Hvid's goal ensured the Glens booked their passage into the last-16 stage of the competition.

"We weren't at our best tonight but we still went away from home and scored four goals," reflected Glentoran manager Declan Devine.

"We had a couple of good chances before we scored but I think we showed good character.

"I felt we played too many long balls early in the game and we were very wasteful with our final pass but the most important thing at this stage of the competition is that you're in the draw for the next round and I have to give credit to the players as they kept working and our attacking players came to the fore in the second half and showed real quality."

Image source, in

Glentoran start their bid for the Irish Cup with a 4-2 comeback win over east Belfast neighbours H&W Welders at Blanchflower Stadium.

Read match report here

Image source, Jim Steed

"Still the critics keep on raving. Glenavon, nothing but Glenavon....

"The Duns will never last the pace. A wee team out of the Alliance, for Goodness sake it wasn't a race."

It is known as one of the biggest shocks in the history of Irish League football.

For some, it's perhaps the greatest of them all.

The Irish Cup final of 1955 pitted an all-conquering, star-studded Glenavon side against third tier side Dundela.

That season alone, Glenavon had already won three trophies and were leading the Irish League with trio Jimmy Jones, Johnny Denver and Stewart Campbell scoring a staggering 101 goals for the Lurgan Blues.

Read more here

Watch highlights as Cliftonville ended their 45-year wait for an Irish Cup win by beating Linfield 3-1 in May's final after extra-time.

Former Northern Ireland international, Glenavon manager and Irish Cup winner Gary Hamilton's predicted winners are in bold below

Annagh Utd v Portadown

Bangor v Newington

Carrick Rangers v Newry City

Linfield v Wellington Rec

Coleraine v Armagh City

Limavady Utd v Larne

Dungannon Swifts v Rathfriland Rangers

Knockbreda v Crusaders (14:00)

Ballymacash Rangers v Ballinamallard United

Ballymena United v Ards

Cliftonville v Banbridge Rangers

Image source, BBC Sport

Here are all 11 of today's Irish Cup fixtures that are going ahead today, all kick-offs are 15:00 kick-off unless stated otherwise.

Image source, BBC Sport

The first Irish Cup game of the day is under way.

The Irish Cup fifth round tie between Knockbreda and Crusaders has been moved from Breda Park to Seaview.

The game will kick off at 14:00 GMT in north Belfast with the decision taken to move venue following a pitch inspection at Breda Park on Saturday morning.

We'll have goal updates from Seaview.

Image source, Getty Images

Four Irish Cup fifth round ties have been postponed following pitch inspections on Saturday.

A yellow warning for ice was in place overnight for four counties in Northern Ireland.

Belfast Celtic v Moyola Park, Dollingstown v Ballyclare Comrades, Glenavon v Dundela and Institute v Loughgall have all been called off.

The postponed cup ties have been rescheduled for Tuesday, 14 January at 19:45 GMT.

Image source, BBC Sport

Hello and welcome to our coverage of today's 11 Irish Cup ties.

Glentoran kicked off their cup campaign with a hard-fought victory against H&W Welders on Friday night whilst four games today have been postponed due to the cold weather.

Belfast Celtic v Moyola Park, Glenavon v Dundela, Institute v Loughgall and Dollingstown v Ballyclare Comrades are all off, but we have plenty of action to come.

We will have goal updates from all 11 of the games as well as reports, highlights and reaction to follow.

Thanks for joining us - enjoy

Image source, Inpho