Irish League Football

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Larne captain Cian Bolger said that he hopes his side can "kick on" in the Irish Premiership after their 2-0 win against Glentoran.

Goals from Andy Ryan and Bolger secured the win at the Oval as Larne got back to winning ways after a stuttering start to their title defence.

And Bolger was pleased that the Inver Reds were able to grind out the win as they aim to climb the table.

"We've been disappointed the last few weeks with our league form so we're happy with the three points, he told BBC Sport NI.

"Glentoran started well and we had our backs against the wall the first 15-20 minutes, but I thought the lads defended well and we stood up to it."

Whilst happy to contribute with a goal, Bolger was more satisfied that Larne managed to keep a clean sheet for the first time in five league games.

"We spoke all week about getting back to keeping clean sheets, that is what we pride ourselves on the last couple of years and we've come away from that recently," he continued.

"To get the clean sheet was the most pleasing thing, the goal was a bonus."

Bolger was also keen to praise centre back partner Logan Wallace, who was making his debut.

"I thought he was outstanding, it's not an easy place to come for a senior player never mind your debut but I thought he was excellent, and he should be proud of himself."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Coleraine striker Matthew Shevlin believes his side are only going to go "from strength to strength" after beating Dungannon Swifts 4-1.

Shevlin netted a hat-trick as the Bannsiders recorded back-to-back league wins for the first time this season.

And the forward thinks that things are finally starting to click under Dean Shiels.

"We’re only going to go from strength to strength that is back-to-back wins and we’ve bought into what Dean wants to do," he told BBC Sport NI.

"We’re a brand new team and we’re new to full-time football so it was never going to click straight away.

"Dungannon are a quality side, so we knew it was going to be a tough test. Thankfully we got ahead and then they pegged us back with a quick goal, but we responded with great character and put the game to bed."

The 25-year-old was also pleased to contribute to the win with a treble, that he admitted was a long time coming.

"I had a good performance last week with two goals and I just wanted to come in today and keep the momentum going so delighted with the three points and three goals is always a bonus," he continued.

"I said to my girlfriend recently that it’s been two years since I scored a hat-trick, so I put that right today."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Dean Smith said his Loughgall side were "super from start to finish" and showed "real togetherness" during their 3-0 victory against Glenavon at Lakeview Park.

Jordan Gibson and Nathaniel Ferris netted in the first half before Jamie Rea scored in additional time for the bottom-of-the-table side.

“There was a real togetherness in the team performance today,” Smith told BBC Sport NI.

“Over the game we probably edged it in terms of chances and the clinical side that we probably have been missing at the start of the season.

“The players gave everything. As a manager that’s all you want is for the players to give everything, and I think you can see that, and the crowd buy into that and they just feed off one another.

The victory over Glenavon was Loughgall's second of the season after defeating Dungannon Swifts last weekend at Stangmore Park and Dean Smith's side are now level on points with 11th-placed Carrick Rangers.

"It gives us momentum; we talk about it all the time," Smith added.

"It takes something for momentum to turn and we got that last week, and we have built on it this week and we just want to keep building on it and moving forward."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Glenavon manager Stephen McDonnell said it was "a frustrating day" after his side were defeated 3-0 by bottom-of-the-table Loughgall at Lakeview Park.

Goals from Jordan Gibson, Nathaniel Ferris and Jamie Rea mean that Dean Smith's side are now level on points with Carrick Rangers, with Glenavon four points ahead in 10th position.

"We created an awful lot and just on the day we weren’t able to capitalise," McDonnell told BBC Sport NI.

"They’ve broken off a couple of mistakes and we have been really punished and punished hard.

“You lose the game, you lose it well in the end, but it was never a 3-0 game."

Glenavon are now four games without a victory after drawing with Carrick Rangers and Cliftonville and being beaten by Ballymena United and will look to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night when they face Armagh City in the League Cup.

“We have had an honest and frank conversation, and we will analyse what went wrong and what we need to do better ultimately which is putting the ball in the back of the net," McDonnell continued.

“The beauty of football is you get another chance and we get another chance on Tuesday to rewrite a lot of the wrongs from today."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Coleraine manager Dean Shiels said he has noticed "a massive change in the mentality" as his side made it back-to-back victories after defeating Dungannon Swifts 4-1.

A hat-trick from Matthew Shevlin along with an own-goal from Danny Wallace secured the win for the home side, who move up to fifth in the table.

"We are delighted with the win," Shiels told BBC Sport NI.

"There seems to be a really good momentum with the performances and results at the moment. We knew it would be very difficult, Dungannon haven’t been conceding goals.

"I have noticed a massive change in the mentality of the players and that’s what’s getting us points at the moment," Shiels continued.

"We have loads of quality and there are loads of patterns we are working on at the moment but the main thing that wins games is mentality in both boxes and we had that today."

Striker Shevlin has now netted 10 times in this campaign and is the second highest goalscorer in the league.

"We have to play to Shevlin’s strengths, and I think you have seen that in the last two games with his goals against Glentoran and his three today," Shiels added.

"If we keep putting the ball in the box, there is no better striker in the league for being in the right place and having that desire and quality to score.

"He is a manager's dream to have in his team and I’m talking about when the other team has the ball.

"If people focus on Shevlin when the other team has he ball, his work rate is phenomenal."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Dungannon Swifts manager Rodney McAree said his side "imploded" and "conceded poor goals" during their 4-1 defeat against Coleraine at the Showgrounds.

James Knowles' effort cancelled out Matthew Shevlin's first half strike. However Danny Wallace's own-goal put the home side back in front before Shevlin netted twice more to complete his hat-trick and secure the three points for Dean Shiels' side.

"I thought up to an hour we were very good without creating an awful lot," McAree told BBC Sport NI.

“We didn’t do enough in the final third to create opportunities or to get shots off and asked enough questions. We have imploded a bit; we conceded poor goals.

“The second goal, the ball that comes into the box is maybe a lack of communication from a defender’s point of view, Wallace has put a foot out and it’s ended up in the back of the net.

"I think we can deal with the third one a little bit better as well and the fourth one, a wee bit of laziness has crept in by that stage, and we give a penalty kick away."

After an impressive start to the season, during which they were only beaten once in eight games, Dungannon have now suffered back-to-back defeats after being beaten by basement side Loughgall last weekend.

“Listen we have picked up our first back-to-back losses in our 15th game and I think that shows we have done extremely well," McAree added.

"We are not naive to think we are going to finish third or fourth at the end of the season. We are going to finish as high as we possibly can but to do that we have to get back on track as soon as we can."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Glentoran manager Declan Devine said he was "flabbergasted" after his side were defeated 2-0 at the Oval by Larne as he lamented a third missed penalty in as many home games.

Tiernan Lynch's men took the lead from the penalty spot before Finley Thorndike became the latest Glentoran player to miss from the spot in what Devine described as an "unacceptable" conversion rate.

Cian Bolger netted Larne's second after the restart meaning that the east Belfast side are now without a win in three league games.

“Frustration is something over recent weeks that we are continuedly talking about," Devine told BBC Sport NI.

"We dominated the game for long periods and again find ourselves losing it. We have got to put teams to bed, I’m sick saying it.

“The players played really well, effort of the players was fantastic, creativity was really good but that final pass, final ball, final cross and that final shot on goal, for all our domination we didn’t work their goalkeeper hard enough.

“I don’t think Larne deserved to win the game at all, but we didn’t do enough to win it either."

Thorndike's joined David Fisher and Jay Donnelly is also missing from the spot in recent weeks.

“We have changed penalty taker, and we do them everyday in training. There is no excuse we have to put the ball in the back of the net," added the Glens boss.

“They [Larne] get one and put it in the back of the net, Andy Ryan sticks it in for the second time in two games against us. We have three in three weeks and don’t score once.

“I am flabbergasted we lost the game in the way that we did, and I was flabbergasted last Saturday and somewhere along the line it has to stop, it’s not good enough."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Larne manager Tiernan Lynch said he was "delighted" with his side's "gritty" performance during their 2-0 victory against Glentoran at the Oval.

Andy Ryan's spot-kick gave the away side the lead at the break before Cian Bolger's close-range finish secured the points for the Inver Reds, who were without a win in three league fixtures going into the game.

"I’m absolutely delighted," Lynch told BBC Sport NI.

"I think there were a lot of questions being asked of this team over the last number of weeks and I felt it was unjustified in a sense because our performances were quite good, but every decision that could have went wrong for us was going wrong for us.

"Today we needed to change what we did; we needed to get back to an Irish League performance and our own domestic season without any influences of Europe and I thought we did that brilliantly."

The visitors had to weather an early storm after Glentoran were the dominant side in the opening 20 minutes in east Belfast with Lynch praising his players for "rolling up their sleeves".

"I don’t think it was a great footballing performance; we have been so much better the last number of weeks as far as football is concerned but it was a gritty performance," Lynch continued.

"You don’t come to the Oval and get very much from Declan Devine’s teams without rolling your sleeves up and without grinding out something.

"That was what today was, we grinded that out and great credit to the players."

Image source, Inpho

Portadown midfielder Eamon Fyfe said that his side dominated the game after making the crucial breakthrough against Ballymena United on Friday night.

After squandering a number of opportunities in the first half, the Ports almost went behind when Josh Carson's free-kick struck the post.

But they broke after that set piece and Josh Ukek scored the opener before substitute Ryan Mayse and Fyfe added further late goals to seal the win.

"I thought we started the first half really well, created a lot of chances so we were disappointed to be going in at 0-0 at half-time," he told BBC Sport NI.

"Second half, we had the intention of pushing on, but I thought the first 20 minutes we were sloppy enough but once the first goal went in, we dominated.

"They pushed on trying to equalise and that is where we found pockets, the game felt more open, and we capitalised."

The impressive win was Portadown's second successive triumph in the league after they beat champions Larne last weekend.

It moved the Ports up to fifth in the table, but Fyfe insists that his side are not getting carried away given the unpredictable nature of the league this campaign.

"It's only two games in a long season, we don't want to get too ahead of ourselves," he added.

"I don't even know where we are sitting, the league is mad at the minute, everyone is in a big bunch, and it doesn't look like breaking anytime soon so you can't get too high."

Image source, Inpho

Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin apologised to the club's fans after his side suffered a third straight Irish Premiership defeat in the 3-0 home humbling by Portadown.

After the eight-game winning run which shot them to the top of the table, the Braidmen have now suffered successive losses against Coleraine, Crusaders and the Ports.

Ervin described his side's evening as an "absolute disaster" as second-half goals from Josh Ukek, Ryan Mayse and Eamon Fyfe earned Portadown a victory that the Ballymena boss acknowledged was "thoroughly deserved".

"We were poor from start to finish. Extremely disappointed because we collapsed after the first goal. That’s probably the most disappointing thing," said Ervin.

"I’m absolutely gutted for the fans who’ve come out again tonight in numbers and we’ve let them down a bucket full."

After being hailed for their performances during the winning run, Ervin insisted the Ballymena players must now "be brave enough to accept the criticism as well".

"We can’t get too down. We need to respond. We need everybody up and at it," added Ervin.

"The naivety in the defending for our goals was really, really stupid. I’m disappointed in the manner that we’ve conceded. Portadown controlled it from start to finish tonight."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Crusaders defender Jordan Forsythe lamented a "poor" first half display which he believes cost his side in their north Belfast derby defeat by Cliftonville.

Joe Gormley scored the only goal of the game in the first half, whilst the Reds also squandered a handful of chances to further extend their advantage.

Crusaders improved in the second half and had opportunities of their own to level, but Forsythe believes they left themselves with too much of a mountain to climb.

"I think the first half performance was poor from us, we gave Cliftonville far too much of the ball and they are good with it, they work a lot on their shape and they're good at pulling you out," he told BBC Sport NI.

"There was some good football from both sides, and it was a good advert for the league."

The result, coupled with Portadown's win against Ballymena sees the Crues drop out of the top six.

And Forsythe was disappointed with his own and his teammates' wastefulness in front of goal in the latter stages of the game when they carved out opportunities.

"We came out in the second half and give it a good push, but the wee bit of luck when you were waiting on one to fall for you just wasn't there tonight," he continued.

"I think with the number of chances we had in the second half; we are disappointed because we should take them."

Image source, Pacemaker Press

Cliftonville boss Jim Magilton said that the "effort and desire" of his players to get a result against Crusaders must be applauded.

Joe Gormley scored what proved to be the winner with a well-taken first half finish, with the Reds forced to defend deep in the second half to hang on for the win.

Magilton was delighted with the grit shown to grind out a third successive league win.

"Credit to Crusaders they really forced the issue, we had to defend for our lives, we had character and resilience, and I'm delighted with the three points," he told BBC Sport NI.

Magilton was however, frustrated that Cliftonville squandered numerous opportunities to put the game to bed.

"If we had taken one or two of our chances it might have been an easier night," he added.

"I knew Crusaders would provide a real attacking threat but some of our play was really pleasing, we just didn't take our chances."

He also conceded that whilst results have improved after a seven-game winless run, he still demands a better performance.

"I'd like more control in the game overall, we were a little bit erratic towards the end, but you have to credit the opposition, they went for it."

The Reds boss reserved special praise for Gormley, who netted his seventh goal of the season in his 499th game for the club.

"He's special because he has this incredible knack of scoring goals and that you can't coach.

"H is one of the most outstanding finishers I have worked with, inside the box, you don't expect him to miss and if he does you are shocked," he continued.

"Five hundred games for any player at any club is a remarkable achievement and he is an incredible person too."