Irish League Football

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Portadown have signed midfielder Ben Wylie from fellow Irish Premiership side Cliftonville.

The 22-year-old joined the Reds in January and made five appearances during his brief stint at the club.

He was not included in the squad as Cliftonville began their league campaign with a 1-0 victory against the Ports at Solitude on Sunday.

Wylie, a Northern Ireland U21 international, previously had spells at Celtic, Ballymena United and Swedish side Ytterhogdals.

In what was a busy day at Solitude, Jim Magilton's side brought in former Portsmouth striker Destiny Ojo.

Subject to international clearance, he will be available for Saturday's league fixture against Glenavon at Mourneview Park.

Meanwhile, Loughgall have resigned striker Jay Boyd on a season long loan from Crusaders.

Boyd spent the first half of last season on loan at the Villagers, registering seven goals in 22 games before he was recalled by the Crues.

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Larne boss Tiernan Lynch says he and his players will concentrate on the job in hand as they take a 1-0 lead into Thursday's Uefa Conference League third qualifying round home leg against Ballkani and not be distracted by the potential rewards for victory.

The Inver Park outfit produced a heroic defensive display in Kovoso as Matty Lusty's late goal earned a dramatic victory.

To put that result in context, Ballkani hammered Larne 7-1 on aggregate in Europe last season which included a 4-1 victory at Solitude.

If Larne can complete victory in the tie at Inver Park, it will put them one round away from clinching a prized place in the group stages of the competition which last year guaranteed clubs a minimum £3.5m.

And Larne's opposition in the fourth qualifying would be the losers of Thursday's tie between Lincoln Red Imps and Dinamo Minsk, with the Belarus club taking a 2-0 lead over the Gibraltar side going into their second leg.

However, Larne manager Lynch told BBC Sport Northern Ireland: "If you start looking that far ahead, you’ll forget what’s in front of you.

"The only thing we’re concentrating on now is Ballkani."

Lynch will be without Lee Bonis who played his final Larne game in the first leg before moving to Dutch club Ado Den Haag earlier this week.

"We wish Lee the very best and hope he goes on to have a fantastic career at the next level but it now opens the door for Matty [Lusty] and for Matty to go in and prove that he can be that replacement."

Lynch admits his side "rode our luck" over in Kosovo in a rearguard action but was thrilled by the defensive effort.

The Larne boss will now hope that infuses belief into his players for the second leg.

"It’s a hugely difficult game but we have to take confidence from last week.

"The biggest thing for all our Irish League clubs, us included, is believing we can play at this level and that we should belong at this level."

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Holders Glentoran will meet last year's beaten finalists Cliftonville in the semi-final of this year's Challenge Cup.

The Glens lifted the trophy for a fifth successive season last year as they defeated the Reds 3-0 at Windsor Park.

In the other semi-final, Lisburn Rangers, who were beaten by Cliftonville in this season's League Cup final, will take on Derry City.

Both games will kick-off at 19:30 BST on Friday 13 September, with neutral venues still to be decided.

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Larne striker Lee Bonis has joined Dutch second division side Ado Den Haag on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

The former Portadown forward joined Larne for a reported Irish League transfer fee of £100,000 in January 2022.

The 24-year-old netted 58 goals and contributed 28 assists in 118 games, forging a great partnership with fellow forward Andy Ryan as Larne won back-to-back Irish Premiership titles.

Bonis earned a call-up to the Northern Ireland squad in June last year for Euro qualifiers against Denmark and Kazakhstan, but is yet to win a senior cap.

Ado Den Haag finished fifth in the Eerste Division last season.

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After the opening round of Irish Premiership fixtures, BBC Sport NI summariser Philip Major has selected his Player of the Week.

"Normally I should plump for a centre-back or a full-back, but unusually I’m going to look up front," he said.

"On Saturday I had the pleasure of watching Curtis Allen do what Curtis Allen does. He is a fox in the box and scored a great goal early on which set the tone for Carrick, but I think he comes a close second.

"I would have to give it to a centre forward who hasn’t played a lot football in recent times, Ryan Curran."

Striker Curran, who scored the only goal goal in Cliftonville's 1-0 win over Portadown on Sunday, spent close to two years out with a groin injury that first plagued him in the 2022 League Cup final.

However, after surgery last November the 30-year-old returned to action in Cliftonville's Uefa Conference League second round qualifying games against Latvian side Auda.

“He’s coming back from a wretched injury, had a chance from the penalty spot, didn’t take it and showed great resilience to bounce back and do what he does best by tucking one away from about six yards out.

“Great for him - I don’t know if he has captained Cliftonville before, but he was captain for the day. He scored the goal, a great return for him and that’s ultimately sealed the points for his team."

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Portadown's new goalkeeper Aaron McCarey says there is "lots to work on" after his side's 1-0 defeat by Cliftonville on Sunday.

McCarey's league debut got off to the perfect start when he denied Ryan Curran's penalty. However, it was Curran who went on to score the only goal of the game.

"To come here and to lose 1-0 and be disappointed shows you what we feel as a team and how confident as a team we feel. Lots of positives, but also lots to work on.

"Solitude is always a tough place to come and not too many teams will get points here this year.

"First and foremost we have to secure our status in the Premiership as soon as possible, I think over the last couple of years the club has yo-yoed up and down and it needs a bit of stability."

McCarey signed for newly promoted Portadown after three years at Glentoran, who are his team's next opponents.

The 32-year-old keeper is labelling the fixture as "just another game".

"Glentoran are coming to town and there will be a big crowd there," he added.

"It's another game to look forward to and we will be putting hard yards in this week to make sure we are ready because it’ll be another tough challenge for us.

"Glentoran have made a lot of changes to their squad so they are a bit of an unknown quantity at the minute but we will do our homework during the week and be ready and, if we can bring a performance like we did today, we won’t be far away."

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Ryan Curran says playing in Cliftonville's 1-0 victory over Portadown was a "big step" for him as he returned to league action after a lengthy injury.

Curran had the chance to open his account for the season on the 18th minute, but his penalty was denied by Aaron McCarey.

However, he found the back of the net later on in the first half and netted the only goal of the game to secure all three points for the north Belfast side in their opening fixture.

“When you miss a penalty in a match it’s a hard one to take and it takes you a few minutes to step back and steady yourself, but thankfully we scored a brilliant goal," said Curran.

“Ronan Doherty played a brilliant pass to [Rory] Donnelly and Rory put it across the goal and I couldn’t miss to be honest, but it's great to get that goal and the monkey off your back."

The striker missed the majority of the 2022/23 season and the entirety of the 2023/24 campaign due to a groin injury.

“That’s a big step for me today playing 89-90 minutes. In terms of the team, it is well documented the players we have lost. It doesn’t change Jim Magilton’s mentality of what we can achieve.

“This club has got used to doing well - the last three years we have been challenging for the league up until the split, and in the 2022 season we were right up until the end.

“I think that has to be our aim to try and better last season and if a cup competition does come along we will certainly try and win that as well."

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Portadown manager Niall Currie believes his side had Cliftonville "rattled" and says they can take "huge credit" from their opening game defeat.

The home side's Ryan Curran netted the only goal of the game to secure the three points for the Irish Cup winners at Solitude.

“I think we take huge credit from today’s game. We had them on the back foot and we had them rattled in the last 10 minutes of the game.

“I say to the players all the time about the importance of staying in the game. It’s going to be a long, hard season and we are going to get our medicine like everyone else, but you have to dust yourself down now and go again.

“There were a lot of positives out of that game and we are not done yet, we have a few things that need done still."

Newly promoted Portadown struggled to test Cliftonville stopper David Odumosu until the final 10 minutes of the game with Currie acknowledging they are “a couple of areas short still”.

“We are getting another wide player hopefully this week so after that we are not too bad, we have good strength and depth,” Currie added.

“Unlike last year when we went too light on the squad and got myself into difficulties last Christmas, we definitely are not going to go too light this season.

"I think anybody that comes to Shamrock Park has to know that they are going to be in a game, that’s exactly what our mantra is going to be all season."

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Cliftonville manager Jim Magilton acknowledged it was a "nervy finish" to his side's 1-0 victory against Portadown in the opening Premiership fixture of the season.

“I thought it was an all round very good performance, but if you don’t put the ball in the back of the net and especially with the quality that Portadown have in terms of set pieces, it is always going to be a nervy finish and it proved to be.

"It’s a nervous day, the opening game, and I think it’s more important that you try and win the game and the three points are more important than anything else."

Ryan Curran, who is returning to league action after a lengthy spell out through injury, scored the only goal of the game on the 34th minute when he fired home from Rory Donnelly's pass.

"Ryan is an outstanding player and we didn’t have him for any of last year so having a player of that quality on your team is only going to boost your team," Magilton added.

The Reds have strengthened their squad during the summer, but Magilton hinted he wasn't done yet.

"I’ve liked all the signings, obviously, and they have done fantastically well and I intend to be busy right up until the end of the window.

"Young Axel [Piesold] got his first taste of football here and did well. That’s three points tucked away and that gets us up and running."

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

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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.”

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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."

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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."

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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."

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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."

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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."