Irish League Football

Cliftonville get their Premiership campaign off to a winning start thanks to a 1-0 home victory over newly promoted Portadown.

Reds skipper Ryan Curran slotted home the only goal after earlier seeing his penalty saved by Aaron McCarey.

Read match report here

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree praised Kealan Dillon for his "fantastic strike" which earned them a point against Coleraine.

The 30-year-old put the home side ahead at the break with Matthew Shevlin denying the Swifts all three points when he netted the equaliser in the closing stages of the match.

“I thought we did very well for large parts of it. We were forced into changes, we knew we were going to be forced into changes, but losing John McGovern in the first half was the biggest blow," admitted McAree.

"Ultimately we only had one shot on their goal in the second half and they only had one attempt on our goal which ends up in the back of the net.

"It’s a bit frustrating, but I thought for large parts of it against a full-time outfit we were exceptional."

Dillon's stunning strike from range gave the home side the lead in some style in the 25th minute.

"I think he’s about to get goal of the season! It was a fantastic strike. Kealan has that in his locker to be fair, he scored a few very good goals last season as well from distance.

"I thought as soon as it left his boot it had a really good opportunity of ending up in the back of the net. We’ll not discourage him from shooting, if he gets into those areas, we always want him to try get shots off and it was a fantastic goal to put us 1-0 up.”

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Dean Shiels said his "new" side "deserved a point" after their 1-1 draw with Dungannon Swifts in the opening game of the season.

A superb strike from Kealan Dillon gave the home side the lead before Matthew Shevlin found a leveller in the final ten minutes.

“I thought we thoroughly deserved our point. Looking over the whole picture of the game I thought we were really clear cut," Shields told BBC Sport NI.

“I thought they scored against the run of play and then we had to get in at half-time. The start of the second half we looked lethargic, slow and sluggish and then we found an extra gear.

“I think we showed patience, we didn’t panic, we kept playing and playing and we knew spaces would open up."

Coleraine are the latest club to adopt the full-time model with former Dungannon manager Shiels taking up the head coach position when Oran Kearney moved to the role of sporting director.

"We knew with the players we had at the top end of the pitch that opportunities would come, and we are delighted with [Matthew] Shevlin. That’s him up and running now and hopefully he can use that as a springboard going forward.

“We expect loads of goals from him and the attacking players so once we get into the box if we are a bit cleaner with the final pass, cross and in the last third we will score loads of goals.

“We are a new team and it’s going to take time to gel and time to click but we have shown really good signs today that moving forward we can really progress."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Carrick Rangers manager Stuart King said his side "were phenomenal" during their 2-0 victory over Glenavon at Taylors Avenue.

"I thought we were very, very good. I thought the first half we were really strong, played on the front foot and made lots of chances. We could have had one or two more, I thought we were phenomenal,” King told BBC Sport NI.

He continued: “I asked for a clean sheet and what I liked most about today was in the 90th minute when they [Glenavon] had a chance and two or three cleared off the line every one of my players put their body on the line to make sure we kept the clean sheet, and the game was dead by then.

“It’s a really good start, I’m not going to get carried away obviously, this time last year we got beat by Newry, so I’m delighted with it."

Carrick strengthened their side by adding Glentoran duo Seanan Clucas and Luke McCullough along with returnee Paul Heatley to their squad during the summer.

“The squad is the best it’s ever been. The bench is full of senior pros today," King added.

"They know they have to perform and if they don’t perform, they won’t play in my team and that’s the way I work. To be fair to every single one of them they turned up and I hope they can do that next week."

Image source, Pacemaker

Linfield manager David Healy labelled his side's 2-0 win over Ballymena United as "a decent start" to the new season.

Goals from Chris McKee and Chris Shields secured all three points for the dominant away side, who welcome Dungannon Swifts to Windsor Park in their next fixture.

"I thought our all-round performance was ok today. We never get carried away with anything, especially this early on in the season," Healy told BBC Sport NI.

"You see the investment in the league now, there are numerous teams forcing, pushing and wanting success and silverware and we’re no different."

Linfield will be aiming to regain the Gibson Cup off Larne, who have been the league champions for consecutive seasons.

"Linfield have been a club over 40 years that traditionally had silverware. That won’t change this year, next year or in 25 years and you go back, Linfield will still be looking to be successful.

"But again, the level of investment in the game has made that more difficult and you see that today, so we take nothing for-granted.

"At Linfield you are always under the shadow of giants, successful teams and managers and it’s something that we need to deal with, and we have made a decent start."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Glenavon manager Stephen McDonnell said his side had "teething issues" during their opening day defeat against Carrick Rangers at Taylors Avenue.

The away side failed to respond in the second half after goals from Curtis Allen and Nedas Maciulaitis gave Carrick the lead at the break.

"A disappointing day at the office. We didn’t carry out what we had planned for in terms of we didn’t do it with any real intent, urgency or tempo," McDonnell told BBC Sport NI.

"I felt we had lots of the ball in the first half without doing much. We tweaked it slightly at half-time, obviously we tweaked a couple of personnel as the game progressed and I felt we were getting somewhere, but it was a scruffy performance.

"It’s something we have to improve on."

Former Warrenpoint manager McDonnell replaced Gary Hamilton as Glenavon manager a year ago and led them to a ninth-place finish last season.

"It’s game week one and there are teething issues, and we understand that.

"They have scored a set piece and a throw in. They probably could have had one or two more at times, but keeping the ball out of our net is powerful and something we need to learn about, and ultimately learn fast."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin acknowledged that "things aren't going to change overnight" after his side's 2-0 defeat against Linfield on the opening day of the season.

Chris McKee's close-range strike broke the deadlock after the break before Chris Shields doubled the Blues' advantage from the penalty spot.

"I didn’t think there was a lot between the two teams to be honest, very cagey first game. Obviously, there is a lot of hype and expectation around the new signings we have made," Ervin told BBC Sport NI.

"It’s a new squad and things aren’t going to change overnight dramatically, but when you’re playing Linfield you can't make individual errors, and individual errors have cost us the game today in two set-plays."

It has been a busy off season for the Sky Blues who have signed nine players, including Crusaders’ Ben Kennedy and four players from local rivals Coleraine.

"The players that we have brought in have raised expectations, but we’re not daft, we know that you’re not going to finish second bottom one season and challenge the next.

"It’s up to us to get the players gelled as quickly as possible," he continued.

"It’s ok to have all these signings, but you need to perform on the pitch, and we need points on the board and we need to get results. If that doesn’t happen then the signings don’t mean anything really."

Image source, Inpho

Crusaders match-winner Kieran Offord says his debut "couldn't have gone any better" after he scored the only goal of the game in his side's 1-0 win over Glentoran.

The St Mirren loanee opened his account for his new club after 21 minutes, capitalising on a Glens defensive mix-up.

"The ball is probably in the goalkeeper’s favour and I’ve just made a loose ball into an alright ball," Offord told BBC Sport NI.

"I’ve scored prettier goals but I’ll take that one every day of the week.

"It couldn’t have gone any better to be honest. The boys dug in the whole game, worked their socks off and we end up getting three points out of it."

His partnership with Harry Franklin grew praise from his manager and the 20-year-old from Scotland admitted he is enjoying playing with his new team-mate.

"We’ve only known each other a week and I feel we’ve got an understanding of each other. I’m just excited for the season," Offord said of Franklin.

"Hopefully we’ll build a partnership and keep our places this season and score as many goals as possible."

Image source, Press Eye

Glentoran manager Declan Devine was left disappointed with his side's opening day defeat to Crusaders, admitting his side failed to recover after conceding a "shambles" of a goal.

A defensive mix-up allowed Kieran Offord to score a debut goal for the Crues midway through the first half, which was enough to seal a 1-0 victory.

"The goal just sums up the performance really," Devine told BBC Sport NI.

"It was a bit of a shambles in terms of the goal we gave away and I don’t think we really recovered from that.

"We had three strikers and two wingers and we didn’t test their goalkeeper enough and that is obviously a disappointing factor."

Devine took over on an interim basis as Glentoran manager in March following the departure of Warren Feeney and assumed the permanent role in April.

"We didn’t get going, we weren’t good enough with the ball and the goal we gave away, we let it affect us for a period of the game," Devine added.

"We’ve said this all along – there are going to be ups and downs. Tonight has been a down but it’s the first game of the season. We’ll take our lessons, we’ll come away and reassess it and we’ll go from there."

Image source, Inpho

Crusaders manager Declan Caddell says he is "delighted" with his side's opening day victory over Glentoran.

Summer recruit Keiran Offord scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half as the Crues sealed a 1-0 win at the Oval on Friday.

"That performance was based on hard work, good attitude, a willingness to get a job done and win," Caddell told BBC Sport NI after the match.

"That togetherness, that hard work and they showed that in abundance tonight and for me it was probably well deserved."

The 36-year-old, who replaced Stephen Baxter as manager of the Shore Road club this summer, was impressed with the speed to which his summer signings have settled in.

"Our club is based on that work-rate and it’s amazing to see the new players who have come in, buying into that so quickly," Caddell said

"I thought the two boys up front - Harry Franklin and Kieran Offord - gave an exhibition of working together as a two.

"When you think about the first goal and the bit of luck, it actually comes from those two grafting and working hard. I’m delighted. The boys are delighted in the changing room but it’s just game-day one."

Image source, Getty Images

Midfielder Charlie Allen has returned to Linfield following a four-year stint at Leeds United.

Allen, 20, held the record of being Linfield's youngest ever senior player during his first spell at the club.

He played for the Leeds Under-18 and Under-21 teams during his time at the Elland Road club and also earned eight Northern Ireland Under-21 caps.

Allen's stint at Leeds also included a loan spell at National League club York City.

After being released by Leeds at the end of last season, Allen was linked with Gillingham and a club in Sweden before opting to rejoin the Blues.

“It’s great to have Charlie back at the club, a player I know very well and just how much talent he has," said Linfield manager David Healy.

"He has been training with us for a number of weeks and has bedded well into the squad and we look forward to working with him to further his development this season.”

Linfield face Ballymena United away in their opening game of the new Irish Premiership season on Saturday.

Image source, BBC Sport

• If the Glens win on Friday night it will be the first time they will have recorded three successive league victories over the Crues since April 2008.

• Crusaders have only failed to score in one of their last 10 opening day league fixtures. That was a 2-0 defeat to Linfield in the 2021/22 season.

• Victory for the east Belfast side will be their 50th league home win over the Crues since 1949.

• Crusaders’ last top-flight victory at the Oval over the Glens was a 4-0 win in April 2022.

• The Crues have won their opening League game of a new season in seven of the last eight campaigns.

Image source, Press Eye

Leeper's 'Ones to Watch' for Glens and Crues

It's an intriguing game. I think it's a cracking game for the league to start off with.

Two of the top teams and two managers who are looking to put their own stamp on their respective sides.

With Declan Devine coming in, he's made a lot of changes at Glentoran, new players coming in, so he'll be hoping his team can hit the ground running.

Equally, Declan Caddell of Crusaders, he's a young manager in his first job, taking over from the legend that is Stephen Baxter and looking to put his style on the game.

Image source, Inpho

The key player for Glentoran, you're probably looking at David Fisher to get goals for them. It could be a big season for him.

For Crusaders, you're looking at the likes of Kieran Offord and Jordan Stewart to be match winners for them but overall a very intriguing game and I'm really looking forward to it.

Join Thomas Kane with Paul Leeman on co-commentary for Glentoran versus Crusaders live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website from 19:30 BST.

Image source, Inpho

Irish Premiership Predictions with David Jeffrey

Ahead of the opening fixtures in the Irish Premiership, former Linfield and Ballymena United manager David Jeffrey gives us his predictions for an exciting weekend of football.

On the first day of the season, players, managers and supporters crave an opening day win.

However if victory is not forthcoming, avoiding defeat is the next priority and so a draw is acceptable and welcome to get off the mark in terms of points.

Glentoran v Crusaders - Friday 19:45 BST (live on BBC iPlayer)

A 2-1 win for either side could be predicted.

Two new managers, two new regimes, but for me I’m going to sit on the fence and go for a share of the spoils.

Prediction: 2-2 (Result: 0-1)

Ballymena United v Linfield – Saturday 15:00 BST (live on Sportsound on Radio Ulster/BBC Sounds)

I’m again going for honours even and a point apiece.

However, given their eye-catching recruitment, I wouldn’t be surprised if the points stayed in Ballymena.

Prediction: 2-2 (Result: 0-2)

Carrick Rangers v Glenavon – Saturday 15:00 BST (live on Sportsound on Radio Ulster/BBC Sounds)

Stuart King has strengthened what is already a strong squad and I expect their home form to be better this season than last.

Prediction: 3-1 (Result: 2-0)

Dungannon Swifts v Coleraine – Saturday 15:00 BST (live on Sportsound on Radio Ulster/BBC Sounds)

This is the first test of Coleraine’s new full-time regime but remember what Dungannon achieved in their first fixture last year - a 4-4 draw with Larne. Another draw on this occasion wouldn’t be a surprise.

However, I believe Dean Shiels will leave his old stomping ground with the points.

Prediction: 1-2 (Result: 1-1)

Cliftonville v Portadown – Sunday 15:00 BST (live on BBC iPlayer)

A bold prediction from me for the Sunday game at Solitude as I’m going for a share of the spoils.

My opinion is similar to that of Ballymena United, regarding Portadown’s impressive recruitment, while the Reds have lost a few key players up front.

Prediction: 2-2

Join David on Saturday with Michael McNamee on Sportsound live from the Ballymena Showgrounds from 14:00 BST on Radio Ulster, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website.