Irish League Football

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Cliftonville will host Crusaders in the first round of the County Antrim Shield.

Tuesday's draw pitted the north Belfast rivals together in just one of two all-Premiership ties, with Carrick Rangers drawn at home to Bangor in the other top flight clash.

Last season's winners Glentoran will begin their defence of the Shield at home to Ards with Larne, who won the previous four editions, beginning at home to Championship new boys Queen's University.

Linfield have home advantage against H&W Welders, while Ballymena United will travel to Premier Intermediate club Ballyclare Comrades.

Elsewhere, Newington host Knockbreda and Ballymacash Rangers welcome Dundela.

The fixtures are due to be played on Tuesday, 2 September.

Full draw

Larne v Queen's University

Newington v Knockbreda

Carrick Rangers v Bangor

Ballyclare Comrades v Ballymena United

Glentoran v Ards

Cliftonville v Crusaders

Ballymacash Rangers v Dundela

Linfield v H&W Welders

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The second leg of Linfield's Uefa Conference League third qualifying round tie against Vikingur will be streamed live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

Coverage will begin at 19:40 BST with kick-off at Windsor Park set for 19:45 BST on Thursday.

BBC Sport's Thomas Kane will be joined on commentary by former Linfield manager David Jeffrey.

Irish Premiership champions Linfield, who began their defence of the Gibson Cup with a win against Dungannon Swifts at the weekend, trail 2-1 to the side from the Faroe Islands after last week's first leg in Torshavn.

The winners of the tie will go on to face the losers of the tie between Croatians Rijeka and Shelbourne, with the Irish side ahead after the first leg.

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Holders Glentoran roared into the semi-finals of the County Antrim Cup as they thrashed Cliftonville 6-0 at Solitude.

The Glens raced into a 5-0 lead at half-time and added another in the second half to complete the dominant win against the Women's Premiership champions.

Kim Turner's side went ahead early in north Belfast through a stunning long-range effort from Emma McMaster.

Kelly Crompton volleyed home a second from close range before Aimee Kerr tucked home a third.

Mia Moore scored a fourth after a corner dropped to her in the box with Crompton netting her second and Glentoran's fifth before the break.

Aoibhe O'Neill diverted Demi Vance's cross into her own net for the away side's sixth and final goal.

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Linfield striker Kieran Offord said he was "buzzing" to contribute after his hat-trick helped the Blues beat Dungannon Swifts 3-0.

Offord's three goals came in the second half as Linfield began their title defence with a comfortable win at Windsor Park.

And the striker, who joined the Blues in January, hopes his treble can kickstart his career at the south Belfast club.

"It's the perfect day, three points and three goals," he told BBC Sport NI.

"Second half we kept doing the right thing and eventually it came. the difference was we had three chances, and we took them.

"I have a few personal targets and when you start to tick them off in one game it gives you confidence. I want more days like today where my goals help the team get three points."

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Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton said his side conceded "embarrassing" goals in their 3-1 loss against newly promoted Bangor.

The Reds fell behind to Kyle Owens' goal but levelled in the second half through Ryan Curran.

Although they struck the crossbar three times, Magilton's side were undone by some poor defending as two headers from Ben Arthurs and Michael Morgan helped the Seasiders to victory.

"I thought the second and third goals were embarrassing, we didn't defend them well enough," he told BBC Sport NI.

"The second free-kick is a basic one, we should defend areas and we didn't. A lack of leadership there cost us.

"We limped to the end there and that is disappointing, there are no excuses."

Cliftonville have a difficult set of fixtures coming up as they look to bounce back with games against Coleraine, Larne and Linfield to come during the rest of August.

"These are tough lessons and I'm hoping we learn very quickly because we have a tough month ahead," Magilton concluded.

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Bangor boss Lee Feeney said he was "not surprised" his side beat Cliftonville 3-1 as they "have it in them" to produce impressive performances like they showed on Sunday.

Goals from Kyle Owens, Ben Arthurs and Michael Morgan helped the Seasiders to victory in their first top flight game since 2009.

Feeney praised his side's response after Ryan Curran equalised for Cliftonville in the second half, but knows they will need to deliver similar performances week in week out to stave off relegation.

"It was a pleasing performance and result. We have 37 more league games to put in performances like that, but I'm really proud as a big ask for them to come here and beat Cliftonville," he told BBC Sport NI.

"We'd only two players different from last season's Championship so it's very pleasing, I put trust in the boys that got us here, but we have to do it all season.

"We reacted brilliantly to the Cliftonville goal going in and we were a better version of ourselves after that goal."

Owens, who scored Bangor's first goal from close range, believes the victory will give his side confidence that they can compete at this level.

"We showed today we can go up against anyone," he said.

"People expect you to get relegated straight away and it is a fight and a battle every week, but the boys have to be up for that.

"I'm one of the older guys, I've played here before but a lot of our young lads haven't played in the Premiership but they didn't look out of place."

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Coleraine forward Joel Cooper said his side will not be distracted by talk from outside the club labelling them as title favourites this year.

Cooper, who arrived in the summer from Linfield, scored the winner on his Bannsiders debut to help them edge out Larne 1-0 at the Coleraine Showgrounds.

And the 29-year-old said that his side are focused on improving on last season's fifth place finish first before entertaining any talk of them challenging for the Gibson Cup

"A lot of it is outside stuff, people want to talk, and other teams want to put us into it [title contention] to take pressure off themselves," he told BBC Sport NI.

"We're only at the start of where we want to get to so we're focusing on bonding as a group and improving on last year. We finished 30 points behind Linfield last year, so our aim is to get closer."

Cooper, who scored 19 goals to help Linfield to the league title last season was delighted to net a late winner for Coleraine after missing a chance minutes before.

"It's a nice one to win the game. I had a chance before that I should have scored, and I thought that was my moment gone but the pass from Declan [McManus] was quality and I just had to step onto it and hit it, and I was glad it hit the net," he added.

"To win like that will give us confidence going forward and I think we deserved that win."

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Carrick Rangers manager Stephen Baxter was thrilled with his team's composure in their comeback 4-3 win at Crusaders.

Trailing by three after 32 minutes, Baxter still felt his team could turn things around and they did just that in superb fashion.

Although it was far from the perfect performance, Baxter felt "the fans got full value for money" and the win was a good way to start the new season.

"It was a tremendous game of football for an opening game," he told BBC Sport NI.

"There was some tactical stuff that will drive me and the coaches mad, but on the while, you have to give tremendous credit to the players a 3-0 down to come back and win.

"I turned to the boys on the bench when the third goal went in and there was no panic. We were 3-0 down to Cliftonville here many a year ago when I was Crusaders' manager and won 4-3. No panic, find your way into the game and we did that.

"You have to have the confidence to build on things. We weren't tight enough in our defensive shape and they got through us too easily, so these are things we'll work on."

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Glentoran boss Declan Devine said his players "gave absolutely everything" in their opening day 1-0 win against Portadown at Shamrock Park.

Full-back Danny Amos volleyed home from a superb Jordan Jenkins cross to score what proved to be the winner before half-time.

And Devine was delighted that his side were able to grind out a win in the absence of a number of first team regulars.

"Winning is absolutely the main thing. We had a lot of setbacks coming into the game," he told BBC Sport NI.

"Cammy Palmer's suspension from the play-off, injuries to Joe Thompson and Marcus Kane, Dylan (Connolly), and Christy Pattisson on being suspended, and yesterday we lost Pat Hoban."

"We lost David Fisher after a few minutes, which meant we had to change our shape. It's full testimony to the group because I don't think we played great by any stretch.

"There weren't any free-flowing combinations or attacking moves, but we found a way to win and dug in against a really good Portadown side."

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Portadown boss Niall Currie said his side's final ball "let them down" as they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Glentoran on the opening day of the Irish Premiership season.

Danny Amos scored the winner for the Glens at Shamrock Park three minutes before half-time.

And Currie was frustrated that for all their possession, the Ports failed to test Andrew Mills in the Glentoran goal.

"I didn't think there was anything in it - in fact, there wasn't. Aaron McCarey had a comfortable day, but their goalkeeper also had too easy a time," he told BBC Sport NI.

"We created so many great opportunities in the first half, getting down the sides numerous times and into great positions, but our final ball let us down.

Glentoran had offered very little - it was a good finish from Danny Amos, but it came from one breakaway, and that's what you get with quality. We were punished, but we still felt the game was there for us."

Currie also voiced his displeasure that Josh Ukek's close range finish from Stephen McCullough's cross was disallowed for a foul in the build-up to the goal.

"We've looked at our goal in the second half, and if there's anything wrong with it, it's very soft," he added.

"Moments like that change games, so we're disappointed it wasn't given. I think a draw would have been fair."

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Carrick Rangers have completed the signing of midfielder Matthew Snoddy from Glenavon for an undisclosed fee.

The 32-year-old was made available for transfer by the Lurgan Blues this summer after spending five years with the club.

Snoddy previously worked under Carrick boss Stephen Baxter at Crusaders and also had a spell at Coleraine.

He becomes Carrick's ninth summer signing and joins ahead of their Irish Premiership opener against the Crues at Seaview.

"I'm delighted to be here and get the deal over the line. When I knew Carrick and Stephen were interested it was a no brainer for me," Snoddy told the club's website.

"Stephen didn't have to sell the club much to be fair, I know there's a project here and it's exciting and it's definitely a club on the up.

"It can be difficult moving to a new club, but knowing I was coming here with a lot of boys I've played with before made the decision a lot easier and I'm looking forward to getting amongst all the lads."

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Portadown have added experienced midfielder Jordan Gibson to their squad ahead of their Irish Premiership opener against Glentoran on Saturday.

The 30-year-old has spent the past two seasons with Loughgall in the top flight after previous spells with Dollingstown, Lurgan Celtic, Carrick Rangers and Ballymena United.

He becomes the Niall Currie's fifth summer addition after Jamie Rea, Alex Moore, Divin Isamala and Rayhaan Tulloch.

"Obviously everyone is well aware of me and Jordan's history, he's been a Premiership player from the moment I signed him for Carrick Rangers and was brilliant for me in my time there and went on to get signed by David Jeffery at Ballymena United, so he's got great experience now at the highest level," Currie told the club's website.

"He's 30 and coming into his prime years and his versatility is always great for any squad.

"We're delighted to have the big man on board and his desire to come to our club was there for all us to see."