Irish League Football

Image source, Inpho

Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin refused to comment on the wrongful dismissal of Stephen O'Donnell in his side's eventful 3-2 defeat against Cliftonville at Solitude.

The Reds fought back to lead 2-1 midway through the second half and were then awarded a penalty after a handball in the box by Ben Kennedy.

In a case of mistaken identity, referee Louise Thompson showed a second yellow card to O'Donnell, but Ervin did not believe it ultimately contributed to the Sky Blues' late defeat as they fought back to level before Jack Keaney scored a late free-kick to win it for the Reds.

"I think the whole stadium saw what happened, so I have no more to say on the matter," he told BBC Sport NI.

"The one thing I would say is it didn't cost us the game, they miss the penalty, and we get it back to 2-2 so I'd rather not talk about it."

Ervin was delighted with his side's first-half display, with a Michael Glynn own goal giving them a half-time lead at Solitude.

He was then however, frustrated with their defending for Ademayo Fapetu's equaliser and O'Donnell's own goal which put the hosts in front as well as the concession of the free-kick Keaney scored from.

"I thought first half we were outstanding, the game plan worked. We went in 1-0 up but we knew we would get a reaction second half, we spoke about but within 10 minutes we were 2-1 down," he added.

"It's not good enough, we don't stop the crosses, and we don't defend our box. You can't use the excuse it was young boys, there was plenty of experience in our back four.

"We don't need to give the free-kick away but it is what it is, we have lost the game. We worked desperately hard to get it back to 2-2 and if we got a point, it would have been deserved. To lose it the way we have, it is gutting and hard to take."

Image source, Pacemaker

Linfield manager David Healy said he thought his side "were the better team" in Friday's 1-1 Irish Premiership draw with Glentoran at the Oval but "didn't get their rewards".

Pat Hoban's penalty had the hosts one goal to the good at the interval but Chris Shields' spot-kick in the second half restored parity.

"A brilliant advertisement, two teams going at it," reflected the Blues boss in an interview with BBC Sport NI after the game.

"We kept going and were rewarded with at least an equaliser. We were down here last year and huffed and puffed and didn't get the equaliser, but we did tonight.

"On reflection, I thought towards the end of the game we were the team looking in the ascendancy and that were going to score."

Linfield dominated the early stages of the game and Kieran Offord and Matthew Fitzpatrick both had chances to put their side in front, the former being denied by a fine save from Andrew Mills and the latter skewing his effort wide of the post.

"Hindsight of course you want your strikers to score but I think Kieran did well for his and maybe Matthew snatched at his a bit, it was so early in the game, I don't know but our general play was better and momentum was with us in the second half."

Both penalties were controversial awards with Kirk Millar looking to have made minimal contact with James Singleton for the first and the foul by Marcus Kane on Fitzpatrick for the second looking to have begun outside the area.

"I'll speak with my Linfield hat on, I thought the first wasn't and the second was a stonewall!.

But credit to Ben [McMaster the referee], these games aren't easy to manage and I thought in general he got most things right.

"There were one or two corners we could have had with little deflections, I picked up my customary yellow card, but that's the fire, I want to win here."

Healy described the feeling in the Linfield camp after the game:

"The boys are OK. In our dressing room we never get too high, we never get too low. There wasn't too much of a conversation, we take the point and move on we have Ballymena on Tuesday.

"I thanked them for their level of performance, their attitude towards their performance. There were a lot of questions about our performances and results last year against Glentoran even though we won the league by 20 plus points.

"We lost a few battles along the way, we lost one or two to other teams, but it is always highlighted a bit more when it is Glentoran. At the end what was most pleasing for me was we won when and where we needed to win."

Image source, Press Eye

Glentoran goal scorer Pat Hoban said that his side did "ride our luck" in their pulsating 1-1 draw with Linfield at the Oval.

Hoban scored a penalty to put the Glens ahead in the first half with Chris Shields equalising from the spot for the Blues.

In an end-to-end second half, both sides had chances to win it with Sean Brown smashing the crossbar and Jordan Jenkins firing over in the dying seconds, but Hoban thought a draw was a fair result.

"It was a thrilling encounter, I think the ball turned over too much on our behalf and we gave them too many chances first half, but we got over that and started playing decent stuff and created some chances," he told BBC Sport NI's Gavin Andrews.

"We conceded a penalty, it was hard to see from my angle but I thought the foul started outside the box, but the ref said it was inside, so you have to take it on the chin.

"We did ride our luck at the end, and it could have went any way. Both sides will probably take the point."

Hoban has now scored two goals in two starts for the Glens and had confidence he was going to coolly slot home his penalty.

"I was fine, it is not a new situation for me to stand over a penalty. I did my homework as well with the goalkeeper, so I was happy enough with it," he added.

He also said he is enjoying life in east Belfast under Declan Devine after getting over an early season injury.

"I'm loving it, there is no better feeling than playing week in, week out and I have my body in shape to get back in the team.

"There is a lot of fight and a lot we can learn from this game, that bit of composure when the ball gets turned over to take the sting out of it. It was like a basketball game second half.

"You can take a lot of positives, but we need to work on the negatives too."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Cliftonville moved top of the Women's Premiership with a 5-0 victory over Larne at Inver Park.

Two goals in six minutes from Fi Morgan and Teegan Lynch gave the visitors a comfortable half-time lead.

Further goals from Marissa Callaghan, Kirsty McGuinness and Lydia Thompson sealed the win that edges the Reds a point ahead of Glentoran, having played a game more.

Gracie Conway scored a late winner for Lisburn Rangers as they beat Derry City 1-0 at the Brandywell to make sure of their place in the top four ahead of the split.

Crusaders scored twice in injury time to snatch a 2-1 victory at home against Lisburn Ladies.

Ella Parker's first-half goal looked to have been enough to secure a valuable win for Lisburn, but Caitlyn Hamilton equalised in the 92nd minute and Jessica Rae scored a 96th minute winner for the Crues.

Image source, Pacemaker

Linfield manager David Healy says both he and his Glentoran counterparts are aware of the pressures surrounding the respective management teams as they prepare for the first 'Big Two' meeting of the season at the Oval on Friday night.

The match will be shown live on BBC Two NI, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.

Premiership leaders Glentoran go into the encounter with a three-point lead at the top of the league standings, having won five and drawn one of their opening five fixtures, conceding just one goal.

Linfield have played three fewer games because of their commitments in European club competition, but have won each of the three matches they have played.

"They [Glentoran] are unbeaten, they've started really well and we've started ok," Healy told BBC Sport NI.

"They look as if they have an edge to their game, which is important for big clubs like Linfield and Glentoran, with the demands and expectations around them.

"Myself and Declan [Devine], and I'm good friends with Paddy McCourt and I saw Tim McCann at a game a couple of weeks ago, we all understand the demands of both sets of supporters.

"It's hopefully set fair for a good game. Hopefully it's won by a wee bit of quality, a wee bit of magic by somebody, and not a poor decision where everybody is going to be left discussing it at the end of the game."

Image source, Pacemaker

Glentoran manager Declan Devine says his team have plenty of room for improvement as they aim to build on their promising start to the season when they host Linfield in the first 'Big Two' encounter of the season at the Oval on Friday (19:45 BST kick-off).

The game will be broadcast live on BBC Two NI, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website, with coverage starting at 19:30.

The unbeaten Glens sit three points clear at the top of the Premiership table, having won five and drawn one of their first six matches of the campaign.

Linfield are playing catch-up in terms of fixtures but have won three out of three without conceding a goal.

"We still have to continue to get better. We know we have another couple of gears," Devine told BBC Sport NI after last weekend's 2-0 win at Ballymena United.

"We're not patting ourselves on the back too much. There's certainly a lot of room for improvement."

The Glens have conceded just one goal as they prepare for a run of league games which will see them face the champions, then another as yet unbeaten side in Coleraine, followed by the visit of Larne.

"We're coming into a very demanding fixture list now.

"We are still missing Dylan Connolly, Christie Pattisson, Ciaran Coll and Joe Thomson, who have all still to come back and stake a claim."

Devine believes the east Belfast outfit can take confidence into the meeting with their fierce rivals.

"It's nice to go into it on the back of a favourable result and we'll come up with a plan for that," reflected the Glens boss.

"It's a fantastic occasion for our fans, and for our players to play in but it's no more than three points."