Kirk Millar gets the action underway.

The Blues have won their last five games in all competitions with the home side aiming to extend their unbeaten run under caretaker manager Declan Devine.

Who will book their place in the Irish Cup final this evening?

Glentoran have the edge in this fixture at The Oval in recent years, with three emphatic wins, whilst Linfield have edged the Glens on two occasions.

Image source, Inpho

These two sides last met on Boxing Day at Windsor Park, where goals from Ben Hall and Matthew Fitzpatrick sealed the win for Linfield.

Decline Devine won the Irish Cup as a Glentoran player, part of a side that beat Glenavon 1-0 in the 1996 final thanks to a sublime Glen Little strike.

Image source, Pacemaker

Lauren McCann
BBC Sport NI at The Oval

The Oval is filling up nicely at the moment and the atmosphere is building. It really has the feel of a big derby game and a huge semi-final.

Glentoran caretaker boss Declan Devine is focused on tonight's Irish Cup semi-final with Linfield, not whether he has a long-term future at the club.

Devine took temporary charge at the Oval this month just days after leaving Bohemians, replacing Warren Feeney.

Glentoran have won both games since the managerial change, but Devine knows that Linfield will be a huge step up.

"We're under no illusions that it's going to be an extremely difficult game, but we're ready for that."

Read more from Devine here.

Image source, BBC Sport

Glentoran make just the one change to the side who were the comfortable victors against Ballymena United with Jay Donnelly starting his first game since the Glens clash with Ballymacash Rangers in the sixth round of the Irish Cup.

The striker replaces Junior, who is amongst the substitutes.

David Healy also makes just the one alteration to his last league starting XI with Joel Cooper in the starting line-up and Rhys Annett dropping to the bench.

Glentoran: McCarey, McCullough, Wilson, McClean, Singleton, Burns, O'Connor, Sule, McCartan, McGinn, Donnelly.

Subs: Webber, Marshall, Donnelly, Clucas, Murphy, McLaughlin, McToal.

Linfield: Johns, Finlayson, Millar, McClean, Cooper, Hall, Clarke, Mulgrew, McGee, Fitzpatrick, Archer.

Subs: Walsh, Newberry, Shields, Stewart, McBrien, Annett, Graham.

Image source, BBC Sport

The Irish Cup semi-final between Glentoran and Linfield at The Oval will be available live on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website with coverage starting at 19:30 GMT.

Image source, BBC Sport

Here is how the pitch at The Oval was looking earlier today.

The heavy rainfall in Belfast earlier this morning led to some water at the goalmouths, but the pitch has passed an inspection and is good to go for this semi-final.

Image source, BBC Sport

Ahead of the two semi-finals, which involve the top four sides in the Irish Premiership, BBC Sport NI assesses why an Irish Cup win would be so significant for each of the teams involved.

Read the preview here.

Image source, BBC Sport

Good evening and welcome to our coverage of tonight's Irish Cup semi-final between Glentoran and Linfield.

The game will be live on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website.

After an earlier pitch inspection, the game is on at The Oval and Glentoran will be hoping to make home advantage count as they did the last time these two sides met in the league in east Belfast, when the Glens ran out 4-0 winners.

A lot has changed for the east Belfast side since that game, with Declan Devine now in as caretaker manager. An Irish Cup winner as a player with Glentoran, he will hope to guide his side to the trophy for the first time since 2020 as manager.

Standing in Glentoran's way to the final in May are rivals Linfield, who are chasing a possible domestic treble of the Premiership and Irish Cup to add to their League Cup success earlier this year.

They are looking to secure their first triumph in the Irish Cup since 2021 and have beaten Glentoran in three of the four meetings between the two sides in all competitions this season.

It promises to be an enthralling game with the possibility of extra-time and penalties if they game ends level after 90 minutes.

We will have live text commentary and in-play clips of all the action.

Thanks for joining us - enjoy!

Image source, Pacemaker Press