Irish League Football

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Leaders Cliftonville continued their impressive winning run in the Women's Premiership with a hard-fought 3-2 victory against Lisburn Rangers at Solitude.

Caitlin McGuinness scored an 89th minute winner to seal Cliftonville's 14th win from 14 league games.

The win sees the Reds re-establish their six-point advantage over rivals Glentoran, having played a game more.

They face the Glens next Sunday evening at Solitude.

The hosts took an early lead with Northern Ireland international Danielle Maxwell firing low into the far corner from outside the box on six minutes.

Caitlin McGuinness doubled their advantage with a close-range finish before the half hour mark after latching onto a fine pass from Hannah Doherty.

Lisburn Rangers pulled a goal back from the spot on 33 minutes with Caoimhe Gelston Mulholland beating Erin McAllister with a powerful penalty.

McAllister then had a moment to forget on 39 minutes as her attempted clearance was charged down by Gracie Conway, with the ball bouncing into the net.

In a cagey second half, substitute Vicky Carleton hit the crossbar before Caitlin McGuinness hooked home from a narrow angle late in the game to seal the victory.

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Loughgall defender Conor Kerr believes that "results will come" for the Irish Premiership strugglers after their latest defeat by Crusaders.

After a positive first half performance, second half goals from Jarlath O'Rourke, Ross Clarke, Jordan Forsythe and Stewart Nixon gave the Crues a ruthless 4-0 victory at Lakeview Park.

The Villagers are now winless since their opening day win against Carrick Rangers, but Kerr is confident that the tide will turn soon for his side.

"We need to stick together, keep grinding and the result will come, we are a good team," he told BBC Sport NI.

"It is early days, and it only takes one result, we get our next points on the board and go from there. It is a good changing room, and we drive each other on so the results will come."

Kerr admits that his side are disappointed to fall to another heavy defeat after a positive first half display.

He also conceded that they failed to respond to O'Rourke's opener for Crusaders.

"First half we were the better team, we maybe didn't take the chances, second half Crusaders took their chances, and we didn't play as well as we did in the first half," Kerr explained.

"It is on us players to respond [to the first goal] and we maybe didn't respond well enough.

"That has to change when we go a goal down because we are still in the game."

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Crusaders defender Jarlath O'Rourke said that his side can "take a lot of confidence" from their 4-0 victory against Loughgall at Lakeview Park.

O'Rourke opened the scoring for the Crues, with Ross Clarke, Jordan Forsythe and Stewart Nixon also getting on the scoresheet.

And O'Rourke was pleased with their ruthlessness in the second half as they got back to winning ways following a run of three consecutive defeats.

"The last few games we haven't scored but everything seemed to go our way and four different scorers so hopefully that is a sign of things to come," he told BBC Sport NI.

"The last three games we haven't played overly bad, but we have a lot of confidence to take from that win, it's massive."

O'Rourke explained that manager Declan Caddell didn't deliver a rousing half-time team talk but rather urged them to keep doing what they were doing and the goals would come.

"First half was a tough game, going in 0-0 we knew we were in a better position than the last few games where we were 1-0 down, we gave ourselves the chance to win it," O'Rourke continued.

"[The message at half-time] was probably to keep going, we played a bit more attacking second half, we missed a couple of chances early on but when we got the first goal it gave us confidence to keep going."

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Portadown defender Steven McCullough said that his side's 1-0 defeat against Ballymena United was "very frustrating".

The Ports' five game unbeaten streak in the league was brought to an end by the in-form Sky Blues, with Ethan Devine scoring the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time.

And McCullough admits that despite a huge effort, they didn't do enough to win the game at Shamrock Park.

"I thought we dominated for large parts of the game then they score a good goal, and their game plan was to sit in and they defended well, we huffed and puffed, and we are disappointed to come away with nothing," he told BBC Sport NI.

"It's very frustrating, we had a lot of possession but didn't create much and didn't work their goalkeeper and put them under enough pressure.

"You can't fault the effort, and Ballymena defended well but we didn't have the spark in the final third."

Despite their disappointment, McCullough believes it is not a game his side can afford to dwell on for too long.

"You get those games of football, and you can't let them effect you. We just need to kick on again now."

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Dungannon Swifts midfielder Kealan Dillon said that his side "don't fear anyone" in the Irish Premiership after their 4-0 win against Carrick Rangers.

Dillon scored a stunning second for the Swifts after John McGovern had opened the scoring.

Andrew Mitchell and Leon Boyd added further goals for the Swifts after Joe Crowe was sent off for Carrick, as they moved up to third in the table.

And whilst not getting carried away by their lofty league position, Dillon believes the Swifts should be aiming for a top six finish.

"We don't fear anyone in this league, if we want to be a top six team we have to behave like a top six team and the games against the other bottom six teams are really important," he told BBC Sport NI.

"We really struggled in those last year and that probably cost us in the end when we were close to finishing seventh, but to come here and win 4-0 against a side we struggle against, is a real plus."

Dillon conceded that his side were not at their best especially in the first half against Carrick, but that they were pleased to still pick up three points.

"We probably didn't do the game justice even when we were 2-0 up, we were a bit lucky and the red card changes it," he explained.

"We'll take it, there have been games where we have been good and ended up on the losing side or conceded goals, so it is good to get two goals when you're not playing well and we're happy enough with three points, but we probably got away with it in the first half."

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Ballymena United's Ethan Devine credits clever recruitment from manager Jim Ervin for the side's seven-game winning streak in all competitions.

The Braidmen survived in the Irish Premiership last season only thanks to victory in the relegation play-off with a disastrous start to the 2023-24 campaign seeing them lose 10 of their opening 12 league games.

Goals were a real issue for the side last season but summer signing Ben Kennedy has made a big impact with Devine, on loan from Linfield, also chipping in recently, including the only goal in Saturday's 1-0 win over Portadown.

"Jim has done well bringing the right players in, players who want to play for him and are willing to put their body on the line," said Devine.

"It's starting to show."

Devine also found the net in the 3-2 win over Cliftonville last week with the winning run lifting Ballymena into second place in the table, two points behind Devine's parent club Linfield having played a game more.

"I'm just glad to be back among the goals and playing with a smile on my face again," added the striker who scored some crucial goals to help the Blues to the title in 2022.

"I'm here to score goals and hopefully I can keep doing it."

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Dungannon Swifts boss Rodney McAree was pleased that his side used their "experience and know how" in their 4-0 win against Carrick Rangers.

John McGovern gave the Swifts the lead before Kealan Dillon added a stunning second.

Joe Crowe saw red for Carrick before late goals from Andrew Mitchell and Leon Boyd secured the win which moves the Swifts up to third in the table.

Despite the victory, McAree knows there is still room for improvement in his squad, particularly after their first half showing.

"I'm very pleased, but I thought first half was our poorest performance of the season we gave the ball away repeatedly and were poor in possession," he told BBC Sport NI.

"I thought Carrick didn't deserve to be going in at half-time 2-0 but after the sending off we controlled proceedings, did what we needed to do saw the game out and got another couple.

"I'm delighted with the performance after the sending off as we showed a bit of experience and know how, passed the ball well and that is all we can ask."

McAree admitted he sympathised with his Carrick counterpart Stuart King as Dungannon scored their opener against the run of play.

"I felt for Stuarty as they looked like the team more likely to take the lead before we get a free-kick and John McGovern reacts to a ball across the box and we find ourselves ahead," McAree explained.

"Then for the second goal Kealan Dillon does what Kealan Dillon sometimes does he lets fly from 25-yards and finds the top corner and we're surprised to find ourselves 2-0 up."

The Swifts have only lost one of their last five league games, but McAree is not getting carried away by their promising start to the campaign.

"It's been a fantastic start to the season, our goal difference is positive, but we need to stay grounded and continue to be competitive."

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Carrick Rangers manager Stuart King expressed his frustration that "individual errors" were present once again as his side fell to a 4-0 defeat against Dungannon Swifts.

John McGovern opened the scoring for the Swifts, with Kealan Dillon adding a super second.

Joe Crowe was then sent off for an off the ball incident as Andrew Mitchell and Leon Boyd added further goals to condemn Carrick to their eighth successive league defeat.

And King lambasted the decision by the referee not to award his side a free-kick in the build-up to the first goal which "killed" his side.

"My centre back for their first goal has had his shirt nearly ripped off him by one of their players and the referee hasn't given a blatant free-kick and the man he was meant to be marking puts it in at the back post," King told BBC Sport NI.

"The second goal is top drawer, we didn't get out to the ball quickly enough, then I have a man sent off which I can't legislate for and the game is done then.

"The two goals second half are amateur league stuff. When you're down to ten men you can't play out from the back and individual errors cost us again."

King was also disappointed that his players failed to take responsibility as they aim to turn the tide and get off the foot of the Irish Premiership table.

"I've asked the players to be accountable today and some of them have done things I can't legislate for, I will take responsivity because I am the manager but when they cross the white line it's up to them," he continued.

"I've tried different approaches to turn it around and they need to be accountable because it's not working."

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Glenavon boss Stephen McDonnell says that their 0-0 draw with Glentoran at the Oval is "two points dropped" for his side.

In a game of few chances, Daniel Gyollai denied Harry Lynch late in the game to ensure the hosts came away with a point.

And whilst McDonnell was pleased with another clean sheet, he was frustrated his side lacked the ruthlessness to take home all three points.

"We were very organised today and we were disappointed not to win it. I thought we created the better chances overall and kept Glentoran at arm's length, it is two points dropped in my opinion," he told BBC Sport NI.

Credit has to go to their goalkeeper he has won them a point today and that is the final wee bit we need.

We have become very organised, so it is now time to turn these one points into three and that is what we have challenged the players with moving forward.

Glenavon have now gone five games unbeaten in the league after a rocky start to the season, with McDonnell believing that they are benefitting from new signings finally starting to settle.

"Players have been knitting together, we have had the chance to bed in 14 players, there has been no recipe [for the unbeaten run] we have just worked hard to change the results."

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Glentoran boss Declan Devine bemoaned Glentoran's lack of cutting edge in the final third in their 0-0 draw against Glenavon.

The closest any side came to opening the scoring in the drab affair was the visitors, with Harry Lynch capitalising on a mistake from Frenkie Hvid and having a late effort saved by Daniel Gyollai.

And Devine was less than impressed at Glentoran's inability to break down a stubborn Glenavon rearguard.

"Glenavon did a job, we didn't do enough over the 90 minutes to win the game, and we have to thank our goalkeeper for the save at the end to pull us out," he told BBC Sport NI.

"It's not good enough with the players we had on the pitch to not create chances but that's on me, it's my fault I put the team out.

"We need to continue to work hard as that is not acceptable, for a club of this magnitude you have to ask more questions of Glenavon when they sit off us."

It is the second time that Glentoran have failed to score at home after a goalless draw with Coleraine earlier in the season, something which Devine knows they need to address.

"We've drawn a blank here at home twice and we haven't scored enough goals," he continued.

"We knew they would come with a low block; they have for the last five or six games we knew they would come here and deny us space, so it was important to move the ball quickly and with a bit of quality.

"We didn't create anything, we lacked ideas in the final third and when we did get in behind them, the final ball wasn't good enough."

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Loughgall boss Dean Smith says it was a "disappointing day" after a 4-0 defeat by Crusaders at Lakeview Park.

The Crues hit four goals in the final 15 minutes to secure all three points in Saturday's encounter.

"We were very naive in how we gave Crusaders the goals," said Smith.

"I don't think Crusaders had to work very hard for their goals and that's the disappointing bit."

Jarlath O'Rourke, Ross Clarke, Jordan Forsythe and Stewart Nixon were on target in a late surge from the visitors.

"I thought we were naive - it was a pretty even first half and we played within ourselves at times.

"I take full responsibility - it was me who picked the team, it was me who picked the shape and it's a really frustrating day.

"To give the goals away that we give away at home is really frustrating."

The result leaves Loughgall two points above the bottom in 11th place.