'I've faced the dark days' - Jamie Mulgrewpublished at 19:30 British Summer Time 25 May 2021
Fear of failure has 'greedy' Mulgrew craving a Linfield double. Read more here
Coleraine 1-1 Linfield (res)
Ballymena United 3-0 Warrenpoint Town (res)
Carrick Rangers 3-6 Glenavon (res)
Cliftonville 1-1 Crusaders (res)
Larne 0-1 Glentoran (res)
Portadown 4-2 Dungannon Swifts (res)
Fear of failure has 'greedy' Mulgrew craving a Linfield double. Read more here
Coleraine v Linfield
Mark Sterling
BBC Sport NI at Coleraine Showgrounds
Three sides of the ground are standing anyway, of course, but every supporter sitting in the main stand in front of us rises to applaud Coleraine on to the pitch.
Kick-off incoming.
Coleraine v Linfield
Coleraine v Linfield
Coleraine
Coleraine v Linfield
Mark Sterling
BBC Sport NI at Coleraine Showgrounds
The Coleraine Showgrounds are looking well in the late May sunshine, with supporters spread out across all four sides of the Ballycastle Road ground.
The match ball is perched on the NIFL stand ready to be collected by referee Raymond Crangle as the he leads the players out.
Massive night for both clubs, of course, and there is that sense of anticipation that usually accompanies these occasions.
Let's never have to go back to not having football fans at matches, yeah?
Coleraine v Linfield
Mark Sterling
BBC Sport NI at Coleraine Showgrounds
Half an hour before kick-off and Linfield manager David Healy took a seat on his own in the away dug-out while his players warmed up.
He must have sat there for 10 minutes or so, looking like he was collecting his thoughts ahead of what could be a mammoth night for the south Belfast club.
He may have been watching how his players' attitudes were in the warm-up or he may have been thinking about what his team-talk will be.
It was interesting, though, to look on and see what a manager goes through ahead of a match in which his team could become double winners.
Coleraine v Linfield
Linfield full-back Conor Pepper is injured so Mark Stafford is drafted into the starting line-up by manager David Healy.
Andrew Waterworth and Stephen Fallon are named on the bench after missing the Irish Cup final win over Larne four days ago.
Coleraine make four changes from their last league outing - a 1-0 win over Crusaders on 15 May. Out go Eoin Bradley, Matthew Shevlin, Stephen O'Donnell and Aaron Traynor, in come Adam Mullan, Aaron Jarvis, James McLaughlin and Curtis Allen.
Coleraine: Gallagher, Kane, Mullan, Canning, Jarvis, Doherty, Lowry, McLaughlin, Carson, Glackin, Allen.
Subs: Bradley, Wilson, Parkhill, Nixon, Beverland, Brennan, Kelly.
Linfield: Johns, Stafford, Haughey, Callacher, Clarke, Quinn, Mulgrew (capt), Palmer, Millar, Cooper, Lavery.
Subs: Moore, Newberry, Fallon, Nasseri, Stewart, Manzinga, Waterworth.
Watch: Coleraine v Linfield
Live on the BBC Sport website and the BBC iPlayer from 19:30 BST
Coleraine v Linfield crunch clash takes top billing
After a week’s break to complete the Irish Cup, it’s back to the Irish Premiership this evening – and what a comeback it is, too!
Fresh from defeating Larne in the Irish Cup final, Linfield have the chance to wrap up their 55th league title when they take on second-placed Coleraine in the match of the league campaign to date.
You can put your calculators away because the permutations are simple – if David Healy’s men avoid defeat at Ballycastle Road, they complete a much-coveted league and cup double.
If, however, Oran Kearney’s men emerge victorious, the destination of the Gibson Cup won’t be known until Saturday’s final round of league fixtures.
Unsurprisingly, that second versus first tussle takes top billing this evening with live stream action as well as live text updates here.
But if you think that’s where the action stops, think again, because the tussle for European positions is another sub-plot in this evening’s schedule.
Linfield’s cup win means that third position in the league will qualify for continental competition without having to enter the play-offs and the two teams battling for that 'carrot' – Larne and Glentoran – are in direct confrontation at Inver Park.
Cliftonville meet Crusaders in a north Belfast derby as both teams attempt to find a bit of form ahead of the European play-offs.
On the subject of those play-offs, Glenavon will aim to take a step closer to becoming the bottom six representative in that mini tournament when they travel to Carrick Rangers with eight-placed Ballymena United – who entertain Warrenpoint – still hoping to overhaul the Mourneview men for seventh position and that play-off ticket.
Portadown’s meeting with Dungannon Swifts rounds off our schedule and you can stay right on top of it here with live text updates and in-play goal clips from those games.
Don’t go anywhere.